Angel with Two Faces
by Gamine
Summary: Now complete! “Death is an angel with two faces... Set some 20 years hence. Read and review, please.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

A/N: The quote on the memorial obelisk is attributed to Theodore Chickering Williams. My entire gratitude to Rachel, for being so smurfy.

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Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 1

He smiled. Laughter bubbled over lips that stretched to show yellow teeth, jagged and hungry, bared in a death's head grimace.

The newly born creature sat huddled between the corpses of his 'parents', looking from one to the other in triumphant disdain. The man's body was arched and twisted, wracked even in bloody death by the pain the creature had wrung from him with glee. And the more he'd wrung, the stronger he'd grown. Oh, to have understood before! 

The woman stared back at him through sightless eyes, mouth open in protest, her silver hair spread like heavy cobwebs on the grass, her flaccid arm outflung as if to ward him off at the last. But he would not be denied. 

Revenge, new life, it was all one, though he had not known it sooner. He remembered his death, and the cruel righteousness that seared through him like a holocaust, making ash of his body and of and all he'd known. And then there had been nothing for a long time. Then, slowly, the hate had seeped back. Zordon's sacrifice could destroy evil, could return those subverted by evil's siren wiles to the side of good; but the hate that propelled the evil was outside his reach. And it was hate of which he was made, now more than ever. The others had sat complacent in their evil, willing harm upon the innocent and weak with a certain amount of baneful contentment. Never he, always set apart by fury, by hate: hatred of those who controlled him, of those who opposed him. Of those who used him. Of those who refused him.

Of them all.

He remembered the life that had come before: yes, mistress, as you wish, mistress. Hit me again, mistress. Yes, master. I live only to serve you, master. But the masters he'd served were pathetic, comedic in their ineptitude, and he only hated them the more for it, and himself for serving such ineffectual rubbish.

He raised an ichor-covered hand to the sun and blotted it out, watching purple clouds gather and stain the sky. Lightning split the air, and the creature threw back his head and roared out another howling chortle of glee.

The creature bent its reddened gaze on the couple that lay in puddles of gore around him, his eyes alight with malignant defiance. I shall serve you no more, he thought. I shall serve none. I will find those I despise, and I will feed my hate in their utter destruction, and I will rule among the universe as the tyrant of Hell itself.

With that, he rose and turned to the home of those he'd once served, his crimson gaze narrowing. His massive shoulders hunched, his arms came forward, his wrists met and flexed, and from him leapt a ball of energy, molten hot and seething. It erupted against the flimsy vehicle, leaving nothing but slag in its wake. The creature chuckled as the woman's hair ignited, and then the clothing of the man, the bodies quickly consumed in a white-hot pyre. He glanced at the sky, where the silvery orb of this planet's single moon hung, then back at the burning pile. With a final, derisive grimace, he turned and left them behind, never to think of them again.

~*~

"Death is an angel with two faces: to us he turns a face of terror, blighting all things fair; the other burns with glory of the stars, and love is there."

Trini Kwan smiled slightly at the sound of the words in a familiar baritone floating on the warm, damp air of the garden atrium. She might have known he'd be here today; on the same errand as she was, no doubt. She rounded a lush foliate and paused briefly, unwilling to disturb him immediately. 

From her vantage point she could see him kneeling before the memorial obelisk, silhouetted against the pinkish marble in three-quarter perspective, slightly less than a profile, more than just his back. It was a broad back, she reflected, strong and flexible, fortunately ample for the burdens he'd carried for so long. Muscles moved under the sleek blue fabric of his uniform as he got to his feet, dusted the legs of his uniform and ran a quick hand through his still-thick, though rapidly graying, hair. He touched his fingertips to his lips, hidden in the heavy beard he'd first grown, what, twenty years ago? and then to the cool stone of the obelisk by the name engraved there, below the poem.

"I still miss her. I always will." It took Trini a minute to realize he was talking to her, had evidently known she was there all along. He turned with a smile. "Thanks for giving me a minute. I'll do the same for you."

"Not immediately, I hope," she returned his smile and crossed the mossy path to tuck her slim hand into the crook of his arm. "Ah, Billy, she'd be so proud today."

Admiral William Cranston chuckled and dropped a light kiss on the top of her hair, still dark and sleek but threaded, lately, with silver. "She would. You've done a marvelous job with Kailey, Tri."

Something between serene pride and sincere pleasure traced across her still-youthful face. "I didn't do anything. Kailey's a great kid – gosh, listen to me, ever the mom." She laughed and corrected herself. "She's a wonderful woman. But I am proud of her, and now – "

"Now inducted, with honors, into the ranks of the Intergalactic Ranger Force." 

"Yellow division, too. Somehow I thought she'd go for another color." Trini smiled a little and dipped her face into the spray of pink roses she'd brought.

Billy took her by the shoulders, mock-sternly. "I wasn't surprised in the least. You're her mom, regardless of the DNA."

"Yeah." Trini looked up at him. "Yeah, I am. Thank you, by the way."

He knit his brows. "For?"

"For giving her to me. For giving Kim her last wish."

Billy looked at her soberly. "I have a daughter of my own, thanks to Kim. If she hadn't carried Miri for Cestria and me, hadn't donated some missing chromosomal information so Miri could be her own person and not just a clone of her father, she might have met someone, had a child of her own."

Trini shrugged. "You had the DNA information on Kim and the cloning technology in place anyway; Kim didn't live to have her own child, so I had her instead. And Kailey is her own person, certainly no duplicate of Kim, other than physically."

He nodded. "True enough. And speaking of whom, I should get going. There's this group of Yellow division cadets that I'm supposed to decorate today, and I need to go change into a dress uniform." Billy leant to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you on the dais, Commander."

"Of course, Admiral." She watched him go, then turned to the stone, her fingers trailing lightly across the engraved letters there. "I hope you're watching, Kim," Trini whispered. "And I hope somehow you know how much we all miss you." With that she placed the pink flowers on the bench in front of the obelisk and went to join her daughter.

KIMBERLY ANN HART

Chosen of Zordon

Beloved Friend and Hero

She saved us all

~*~

"Dr. Cranston, can you come over here?" 

The voice thus raised was slightly nervous, and higher in pitch than usual from a tall, barrel-shaped fellow with pale blue skin that nearly matched his Ranger uniform. Miri looked up from the data she was comparing and frowned. "Something wrong, Ba'altesch?"

Trey, closer to hand, had gone to Ba'altesch's side and was leaning over the hulking alien's shoulder, studying the data that had perplexed the gentle giant. He met her gaze, an astonished look on his face. "You'd better have a look, Miranda."

She got up with alacrity; Trey never called her 'Miranda' in the lab, only off-hours. She never could convince him to shorten it to Miri, and in front of the other members of their team she was invariably Dr. Cranston. He must be really rattled… Miri focused on Ba'altesch's monitor, and what she read there rattled her as well. She spoke more abruptly than she intended. "Run the sim again."

"Yes sir." The large alien nodded briskly and began inputting data; Miri drew Trey a short distance away.

He looked at her. "I can see you agree with me."

"The sim was perfect, Trey. Perfect. No wonder Ba'altesch thought it was wrong. No cellular degeneration…" Miri shook her head. "But we've thought we had it before. I don't want to disappoint my father again. He's waited so long."

Trey inclined his head. "As have I, Miranda. As have all of us who knew him."

Miri grimaced. "I'm sorry, Trey, of course. You, certainly, giving up your position on Triforia to become a part of this. We work together so well it's easy for me to forget you and Dad are contemporaries."

Trey glanced over his shoulder at Ba'altesch. "Are you planning on waiting for the results of the sim?"

Miri looked at him questioningly. "I was, yes."

"Then you will likely miss young Kimberly Kwan's induction into Yellow division."

She nearly jumped out of her skin, glancing at the chronometer by the door. "Oh! Kailey! Shoot! Trey, listen," Miri was shrugging off her lab coat, straightening her blue-trimmed, pewter dress uniform, smoothing her dark blonde hair into its accustomed bun. She headed for the lab door as she spoke. "I'll have my comm on, but muted. Buzz me when it's done, ok?" The door swished closed behind her, then opened again as Miri stuck her head back in. "I'm serious!"

Trey chuckled. "I promise!"

~*~

Miri was treated to a death glare from her aunt Trini, up on the dais, as she slid into her seat in the Great Hall. She mouthed 'sorry' and wiggled her fingers at a very nervous-looking Kailey, waiting at attention on the dais. Kailey sent her a meaning look, and Miri grinned. Dad must have been using incomprehensible language again, she thought to herself, amused. I'm not sorry I missed it.

Trini was getting to her feet now, in Commander mode and ready to speak as head of Yellow division. Miri's attention wandered, her mind still in the lab with Ba'altesch and Trey. She looked past the dais through the sprawling viewport at the purple and orange nebula beyond, so beautiful and familiar. But this space station wasn't home to her father, not really. Deep down, Earth still held his heart. It was duty that kept him out here, among the stars. Duty to this Intergalactic Ranger Force he and mama had created, to keep peace across the universe. Miri wasn't even sure whether her father had stayed in touch with his old friends back home beyond good wishes once a year.

The Yellow division cadets were being decorated now; Miri caught Kailey's eye and gave her a thumb's up. Trini looked on proudly as her oldest friend held out a yellow Ranger Comm unit to Kailey, who secured it to her wrist and tried to look decorous. But the Admiral was having none of it, and caught her up in a bear hug, laughing through his beard. The gathered crowd laughed warmly and applauded all of the cadets, and then it was over and Miri's own comm was buzzing gently against her wrist.

She tapped it. "Yes?" A few words from Trey and Miri grinned hugely, pumping her fist slightly. "Yes! Thanks, Trey. I'll let them know. Tell Ba'altesch thanks."

Miri dodged through the milling crowd to find Kailey. "Hey, small one! Congratulations!" She bent and hugged the smaller woman, chuckling at the indignant squeak the newest Yellow Ranger gave.

Miri's father raised an eyebrow. "And my speech?"

Miri blushed. "Sorry, Dad. I missed it. But – "

Trini slipped an arm around each girl's waist. "You made it for the important part."

"Hey!" This from her father made Miri laugh. Trini laughed as well. 

"Well, she did. And I can see she's full to bursting with whatever kept her, so let's go home and eat while she tells us."

~*~

Billy leaned forward in his seat, his lunch completely forgotten. "Are you sure?"

Trini, too, had pushed her plate away. Miri nodded, her expression unconsciously identical to her father's. "I'm sure, Dad. Trey just ran the sims again. It works."

"My God." Billy leaned back and shook his head. "After all this time."

Kailey grasped her mother's hand; it was trembling. "Put it plain language for us laywomen, will you?" Trini remained silent, her dark eyes imploring as she watched Billy and Miri.

Billy took a deep breath. "It means," he closed his eyes, then opened them and looked at each woman in turn, "it means, please God, that I can finally keep a vow I swore, years ago. I couldn't do anything to save Kim, but – Jason Scott will live again."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

A/N: Many thanks to Rach for getting me through this bit and making sure I didn't leave any important bits out. Thanks also to ScarletDeva and Dagmar for letting me bounce things off them. And to Carrie for helping me flesh out the plot.

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Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 2

Patience was a virtue, Kailey reminded herself for what was probably the thousandth time in three days. Sometimes it worked better not to ask questions; besides, if one drove one's superior (or parent) up the wall, one might get taken off the list of people going to Earth. And Kailey really, really wanted to go. 

Certainly the last few days had been too busy to get any real information anyway. Mom had spent all her time delegating her duties as head of Yellow division; Uncle Bill was busy too, first in the lab, re-running all the sims he could think of (and that was saying something!). Eventually satisfied on that front, he spent the remainder of his time cloistered with Commander Andros of Red division. Kailey supposed they were trying to cover any and all eventualities with regard to running the IRF with the Admiral on Earth temporarily. Uncle Bill was also the titular head of Blue division, but Dr. Trey had had the reins firmly in his hands for years now, so there was little to deal with there. 

The head of Black division, Commander Myers, had departed for Earth immediately with a Red/Black team to clear the way for the Admiral's arrival there. Kailey couldn't really imagine what would need to be done, but then covert ops wasn't her field. 

All Kailey herself had had to do was pack, and that had taken all of ten minutes on the first day, so time had hung loosely on her hands for a while, at least until all the sims were run and Miri was free. Kailey knew perfectly well Miri knew more about this Jason Scott thing than she was saying, but that was okay. Kailey would rather hear it from her mom and Uncle Bill anyway. So instead the girls had spent their time packing and cleaning their quarters, anything to make the time go faster. They'd speculated excitedly about Earth, what it would be like to see it for the first time. They'd gone to the recreation center and worked out until both were exhausted. Finally, it was time to go, and Kailey walked sedately to the large docking bay, though inside she was dancing with excitement.

She'd been patient. Maybe now she'd finally get to hear the story behind all this. She smiled her goodbyes to those who had assembled to speed their parting; mostly friends of her mother's and uncle's. 

The Admiral checked in his stride on seeing the tall blonde woman in a yellow pilot's jumpsuit. "Subcommander?"

Kailey pricked up her ears at the surprise in her uncle's voice. As a cadet she'd never gotten to see any of this behind-the-scenes stuff. She knew the Subcommander well: SC Earhardt-Myers had been a tough but fair taskmaster in the latter days of Kailey's training. The handsome blonde woman sent Kailey a grin before answering the Admiral with a shrug. "Commander Myers did say to put the best pilot on the job, sir. And it's more than my life is worth to cross Commander Myers."

Uncle Bill chuckled at that. "I'll bet. Does he know you assigned yourself?"

SC Earhardt-Myers tried to hide a smile. "No, sir."

The Admiral shook his head. "Oh, joy." The group followed him more or less sedately into the spacecraft, though Kailey did catch her mother exchanging grins with the SC.

Upon settling into the public quarters of the ship, Miri immediately buried her nose in a holobook. Kailey sat quietly in one of the comfortable seats of the big craft as it lifted gently from the IRF docking bay and nosed its way into space. Uncle Bill had a holopad and was frowning at it, making notes of the data. Her mother had curled up with a pillow as soon as the ship lifted off. Ba'altesch was up in the bridge, watching SC Earhardt-Myers handle the big ship with practiced ease. 

Surely patience would pay off soon. Kailey sighed quietly and watched the familiar star clusters drift by as the ship prepared to slide into hyperspeed. Someone would fill her in, at some point. She hoped.

Two hours later, she burst. "Hello? Mom? Uncle Bill? How do you drop a bomb like 'Jason Scott will live again' and then just waltz off like you made a comment on the weather? Isn't anyone going to fill me in?"

Billy swiveled his seat around to face her, amusement lacing his tone. "You held out a lot longer than I thought you would," he said, then laughed outright at the indignant expression on her face. "I'm sorry, honey. We're a little preoccupied. What do you want to know?"

Kailey composed herself, folding her hands in her lap. "Well, I know who Jason Scott is; every child reared on the Station knows about all the early Rangers. And I've seen the museum on Eltar. He was yours and Mom's Red Ranger, right?"

Trini nodded from her seat across the aisle. "Jason was the first Red Ranger on Earth, sweetheart. He was… is an amazing man."

Kailey gave her mother a penetrating look. "Which is it, was or is?"

Miri looked up from her holobook. "I can answer that one, shorty. Both."

"What?" The petite woman looked bewildered. "I don't get it. And stop calling me shorty." She looked steadily at her uncle, who sighed.

"Did your mom ever tell you about Jason returning to the Rangers, taking on Trey's Gold powers?"

Kailey frowned. "Trey? You mean Dr. Trey, Blue division, who works with Miri?"

Billy nodded. "The same. Before you were born, he held the Gold powers of Triforia, sort of souped-up Ranger powers. Anyway, he was injured, and needed someone to hold the powers for him until he recovered enough to take them back. Jason did that." His blue eyes grew distant, as though the events played themselves out in front of him. "Jason was – you should have seen him as the Gold Ranger. He was incredible. But eventually, Trey needed those powers back, and that's when things went south." He rubbed a hand over his beard. "You see, though I knew the powers weren't meant for a human, Jason seemed to handle things well, so I figured as a temporary measure it would be okay. But it wasn't. Jason hid all the symptoms, so I didn't know until too late that the powers were effectively killing him."

Kailey said nothing, though her brown eyes were sympathetic. Her mother took up the tale. "Your Uncle Bill realized that when Trey took the powers back, Jason would die."

Kailey leaned forward. "What did you do?"

Billy shrugged. "Talked it over with Jason himself. And Zordon, of course, and a few others. Then I did the only thing I could think of. I monitored the power transfer, and as soon as the power level in Jason registered zero, I slapped a stasis field around him."

Kailey sat back, digesting this. "And that's where he's been all this time, just – in limbo?"

"I swore I'd figure out a way to stop him from dying. I just – I never thought it would take this long." Billy sighed again. "Trey was really upset. He went back to Triforia for a while, but when the IRF was getting off the ground, he got in touch with us and volunteered to head up the research into Jason's cure. If it hadn't been for him and Miri and the others…"

"No, Dad," came the response from behind the book. "You were the one who came up with the theories. We just ran with what you gave us."

The pale blue form of Ba'altesch joined them from the bridge. "Indeed, yes," the soft-spoken alien agreed. "Our team merely extrapolated from your work, Admiral. And it is no secret that you reviewed the work constantly and provided insight whenever possible. The success of this project is largely due to your determination." He settled his bulk into a chair. "I understand the subject was of some importance to you?"

Billy nodded. "Yes, indeed. A great friend."

Ba'altesch smiled, his expression beatific. "Then I am delighted to have spent these past few years in some small contribution to his safe return."

"Huge contribution, that would be," Miri put in without looking up from her book.

The large alien blushed, turning a deeper blue. "You are too kind, Dr. Cranston. I am honored to have been invited to join you on this mission, as well. I must say," he added, winking cosily at Kailey, which made her giggle, "I am quite excited to finally see Earth. I have not had much opportunity to travel since my arrival at the Station, on my induction into Blue division. I am convinced, from my readings on the subject, that I have never seen a planet quite like her."

"I suspect Earth will feel much the same way about Ba'altesch," Trini whispered to her daughter. Kailey bit her lip, but it was no good; she erupted in laughter, in which Ba'altesch good-naturedly joined.

~*~

"I'm not clear on what you're saying, Tom. Run it by me again?"

Eric Myers leaned over a monitor in the Antarctic Command Center. At his back was Commander Tom Oliver, head of IRF Earth Division.

Tommy leaned forward, stabbing a finger at the data. "I'm saying there's a pattern here; someone is targeting people who are affiliated with the original Rangers."

Eric stroked his chin. "These were villains, yes? I don't know that I'd call that affiliated."

"Look, Eric. First Rita and Zedd, then Scorpina, and now Divatox. All of them killed in the same way and then burned to a cinder." Tommy shook his head. "We kept careful tabs on them after Zordon's sacrifice, and for whatever it's worth, they were leading exemplary lives. Even the Serpentera thing, back in '02, that wasn't Zedd, and it easily could have been. He knew it was up there, after all."

"Okay, I take your point." Eric nodded. "So who?"

"That's the problem. I don't know." Tommy frowned. "And we don't know if the focus is on those who were evil and turned good, or on all of us."

"Or, if by 'all of us' he means the original five, or six, or Adam, Aisha and me as well," put in Rocky DeSantos, coming through the door and shrugging off his jacket. "Damn. Cold up there and hot down here. How are you, Eric?" he added, shaking the other officer's hand.

Eric grinned. "Hi, DeSantos. I thought you retired after we smacked down Serpentera."

"I did." Rocky grinned. "Spent some time coaching the newbies, and then took some time off from Rangering. But when Tom called about this series of murders, I thought maybe I could help, so I got on the first plane and came to this God-forsaken place. What've we got?"

They spent some time reviewing the data, unearthing nothing beyond the basic facts: four humans, once meta-human, had died horrifically and painfully, and then been turned nearly to ash by some sort of energy pulse. 

Eric shook his head. "Well, I buy the connection. Question is, what do we do about it? I've got the Admiral and company on their way here; if there's something in the wind, I need to know."

Tommy looked at him steadily. "There's definitely something in the air, but what, I can't tell you. That help?"

"Nope. Thanks."

A young man in the silver and black of covert ops entered the room with a quick salute. "Commander Myers? The Admiral's ship is coming out of hyperspeed."

Eric glanced at the young man. "Thanks, Ranger – er – ?"

"Oliver, sir."

Eric looked quickly up at Tommy, who grinned. "Yeah, he's mine."

"And he's in Black div.?" Eric chuckled. "I guess if you'd stayed on active duty long enough you'd've got around to black eventually."

Rocky snickered. "We didn't call him Technicolor Tommy for nothing."

Tommy folded his arms and shook his head, chuckling. "I was the first Green, in case you forgot. Scott's in the right place."

"Scott?" Eric was bemused.

"Jason Scott Oliver, sir," the young man put in with a grin. "But everyone calls me Scott."

"Ah." Eric looked at the blond, blue-eyed young man again, then back at his father. "Doesn't look much like you."

"Takes after his mom."

"Wait a sec," Rocky said, evidently working something over in his mind. "I don't get what Tom being Green has to do with Scotty being Black."

"Green's a division of Black these days," Eric clarified. "Special weapons."

"Oh." Rocky digested that, then nodded. "I guess a dagger that doubles as a flute would qualify."

Eric looked at him incredulously. "A dagger that doubles as a – that's the stupidest thing I ever heard."

The ACC was abuzz with activity as the four men threaded their way through the halls toward the comm room. Scott held the door open and followed the three senior Rangers inside, where the comm speaker was sputtering to life.

"… Alpha One secure. Big Blue requesting clearance to land."

The comm officer glanced up at Tommy, who nodded. "Roger that," the officer spoke crisply into the transceiver. "Big Blue, you are clear to land, pad two."

"Roger, Alpha One. We're coming down."

Scott started in surprise as out of nowhere Cmdr. Myers' hand smacked the console, the expression on his face thunderous. "Taylor, is that you?" he all but growled.

"Hi honey, I'm home," came the laughing answer.

"I told you – "

The voice of the woman on the other end cut him off. "You told me to put my best pilot on this bridge. I did."

"I didn't mean you!"

"Then you shouldn't have asked for the best. Shut up, now, Eric, I have to concentrate."

"That's a heck of a way to talk to a superior officer," Rocky said admiringly. "Who is that?"

"That," gritted Eric, looking about ready to explode, "is my wife."

~*~

Billy was the first to step off the spacecraft's ramp. He looked around with interest; though he'd seen the plans for the ACC while it was under construction, he'd not actually seen it. The pad was ample for the big Station ship, and had sunk noiselessly through the polar ice cap to the docking bay where it now sat. 

The door of the bay slid open, and there were some familiar figures approaching him swiftly. "Bill! It's good to see you!" called Tommy, one hand raised in greeting. Still slim and fit though in his late forties, Tommy moved with the vigor of a man half his age. The long hair had been gone for decades, as well as the goofy spiked mess he'd sported the last time Billy had seen him in person. Instead Tommy was graying discreetly at the temples, and looked every bit the Ranger he'd always been. Beside him was a lanky figure, moving with less grace than Billy remembered and with a limp. The jet hair had gone salt and pepper gray, but the face was still boyish and the grin still open. Flanking Rocky was the shorter, more muscular figure of Black division head Eric Myers. Now there was a man who had aged well. He was only a year or two younger than Billy, but aside for a few lines at the corners of his eyes and the merest sprinkling of silver in his dark hair, Eric looked much the same as he had when Tom had introduced them more than a decade ago.

And just now Cmdr. Myers looked like he was going to murder someone. His dark eyes were narrowed, his jaw was set in stone, and Billy didn't need the muttered "Where – is – my – wife?" to know who the target of his wrath was. In answer Billy merely jerked a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the bridge, and Eric pushed past, with a curt nod and a growled, "Admiral," by way of greeting.

Tommy caught up Billy's hand in a warm grip. "It's been too long, Bill. How is little Miri?"

"Not so little," came a voice from behind Billy, and an arm slid around his waist. He looked affectionately at his daughter.

"As you see, Tom, she's grown up. Rocky, this is my daughter, Miranda," he introduced the other man.

"Looks like her old man, but manages to be a knockout anyway," Rocky bestowed a kiss on the blushing Miri's cheek. The sound of a throat being cleared caught his attention, and he glanced up. "Trini!" Rocky bellowed happily. "I didn't know you were coming too!"

"And pass up a free ride to Earth? Not on your life." As Trini spoke Billy glanced absently around for Kailey. Trini caught his eye and gave a small shake of her head. He frowned. Now what was up with her? She ignored the questioning look he sent her and went on. "Come on, let's get the debriefing thing over, can we? From the sound of it Commander Myers is debriefing his wife," Trini added with a laugh, referring to the sudden cessation of raised voices in the ship behind them. She tucked her hand through Tommy's elbow and gave him a kiss. "And then I want to hear all about Kat and the kids."

"Well, here's one of them. My son Scott." Tommy proudly pulled a diffident but smiling young Ranger forward.

Billy turned in surprise to see a handsome young man, built on Tommy's lines but favoring Kat in coloring. "Glad to see you, son," he said cordially, then turned back to the problem that was niggling at him. Something was up. What was she trying to hide? "Trini, what about Ba'altesch and Kailey?"

There was that look again. If he didn't know better… 

Trini was answering him, wearing her best poker face. "They're going to supervise unloading the equipment and setting it up."

Tommy nodded. "Scott, you'll help the other members of the Admiral's team unless Commander Myers has other plans for you." The younger Oliver nodded and climbed the ramp, knocking embarrassedly on the hull and clearing his throat loudly before entering.

"He's a nice kid," Trini said.  


"Yeah." Tommy smiled after his son. "His mother's influence, not mine. Come on."

In the corridor, Billy maneuvered himself and Trini to the back of the group, taking the opportunity to hiss into her ear. "You said you told Tom about Kailey more than twenty years ago, Tri."

She shot him a look. "I lied. Sue me."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

A/N: For the purposes of this story, Rocky went to the moon with the Red Rangers. Jason didn't. 

As always, my gratitude to Rach, beta queen. And to Kev for letting me borrow him.

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 3

"Who is it? Who's there?"

The elderly man's voice was thin, querulous. Silhouetted in the window, seated helplessly in the heavy, wheeled chair, he beat one bony, age-spotted fist against the padded vinyl arm. "Say who you are! You must know I cannot see…"

"A visitor." Raspy, hoarse… decades of disuse would do that, the creature supposed. He nudged the lolling, bloodied head of the old man's attendant out of his way as he approached. His black lips drew tautly across his teeth in a feral parody of a smile. "A… friend."

"Friend!" The old man was indignant now, his sightless eyes searching the room. "I have no friends. Tell the truth! Who are you?"

The creature considered. "You would not know even if I told you my name. And I do not think I shall."

A long pause, then, while the frail old man considered; and then he slumped back in the wheelchair. "It is you, then. Am I to be the next to die?"

The creature smiled again, hungrily. "Yes."

The old man nodded. "I have been expecting you."

The creature stopped, surprised. "Did you hope for death so much?"

That roused the old man. "Look at me! Look upon what I have become! All that I was, to come to this? I have no wish to endure." He paused, his head tilted, as though listening for the creature's location. "Would you not also look for death?"

The creature shrugged. "I have seen death. She holds no mystery for me now. But this… this life…" He shrugged again. "This mystery I shall unravel, and in unraveling, rule it."

The old man seemed to telescope in on himself. "You remind me of myself, in the days of my ambitious youth. Before my trust was betrayed by my faithless daughter and her fool of a consort. Before this cursed humanity, this frail, pitiful form was thrust upon me by Zordon and his wretched sacrifice."

The creature stopped his approach now. Surely the old man could feel his breath, could sense that the life he so despised was over, all but the snuffing. And yet… a question burned. "How did you not become like them, those vacuous vessels for good? How did you escape the Armageddon of righteousness? You should have been turned, as they were, or dust, as was I. How, then, do you sit here and lament?"

The old man drew himself up in the chair, and some of what he had been showed on his wrinkled, sagging countenance. "Because I did not play at evil. I was Evil. I was Master."

The creature nodded. "So you were. As, now, am I." He thought again. "And would you serve evil again?"

A dark light seemed to suffuse the old man's countenance from within. "Would I have again all I had, be again all I was? Give me the word and I will say it!"

The creature nodded, reaching out a hand, not to destroy, but to create. "So be it." His blackened fingernails touched the old man's bald, liver-spotted scalp, and the frail being cried out, a reedy wail of pain, as his body began to shake, shiver, and remold itself at the creature's whim. "I give you life, then. Life as my lieutenant, as my dogsbody, as my slave. You will answer to none but me, and when I say die, die you shall."

"Yes…" the old man's voice was but a mere whisper. "Give back to me that which Zordon stole!"

"So I shall, but you must swear allegiance to me."

The man, for he was no longer physically old, writhed and fell from the chair to the floor, his eyes rolled back in his head as he choked and gasped. "I shall… say what you… wish…"

"You have but three words to say."

Fingernails scrabbled on the hard floor as the man struggled to his knees. "Tell… me…"

"My." The creature snarled as the man rose. "Lord." He placed his foot on the man's shoulder and pushed him down prostrate before him. "Goldar."

~*~

Billy frowned at the holopad Tommy had handed him. "When did you say this information came in?"

"We got it collated just about as you were touching down," Tommy said. "You see the pattern, then."

Billy shrugged. "I see something. I don't know what it is. Ideas, Trini?"

The Yellow division Commander shrugged. "I can come up with a couple of theories, but I frankly don't like any of them." She looked from one old friend to the other. "Good timing, huh?"

Tommy snorted, shaking his head. He looked at Billy. "I've mobilized Red auxiliary."

Billy nodded. "I figured as much when I saw Rocky. Kat on her way?"

"Mmm, just as soon as she dropped the twins off at my folks. TJ is on his way in as well, and I expect to hear from Cole and Wes and the others any time now."

Billy nodded again, his attention on the holopad. "So no sign of Master Vile?"

Tommy shrugged. "Nope. Max security, and every head cracked like an egg." Trini winced. "Sorry. No sign of the old man."

"But the other ex-metahumans were killed outright." Billy stroked his beard. "Rita, Zedd, Diva and Scorpina had all changed their ways, but Vile…" He sighed. "His body went human like the others, but what was in him was so ingrained, even Zordon couldn't get through." 

"So we assume he found a way to return to his old tricks?"

Tommy shook his head at Trini's question. "I don't see how that's possible. The sacrifice really took it out of him. The guy couldn't even walk."

Trini uttered a pungent epithet. "Well, that leaves us with a nameless grudge. Great. Did Rocko have anything to offer?"

"He got to about where you just did. We're all racking our brains and coming up with nothing."

Billy stood. "Red auxiliary ETA?"

"About two hours."

"Okay." He stretched. "Meantime, we've come to do a job." Tommy got to his feet slowly; Billy eyed him closely. "You okay with this, Tom?" His old friend just looked at him, and Billy sat down again. "Want to talk about it?"

"Ah, hell, Bill. I don't even know what to say. It's just…" Tommy wiped a hand over his face. "God, I'm old. When did I get old?"

Trini snorted. "You're not even fifty yet, unless you've been lying."

"Okay, I feel old. What the hell is he going to think of me, of us now?" Tommy shook his head. "He's the same age as my kids, Bill."

Bill sighed. "I know. Believe me, if I could have figured this out sooner…"

"No, no, that's not it. I know you did the best you could."

Blue eyes met hazel and held steady. "Should I have let him die?"

"Hell no!" Tommy all but shouted, then took a deep breath, steadying himself. "No."

Trini covered his hand with her slim one. "It'll be hard for all of us, Tom, Jason especially. We'll have to watch him live a youth we wish we could have back, and he'll have a whole new world to adjust to. We'll just have to get through this the same way we get through everything. Together."

Tommy shook his head and drew his hand away. "Like we got over losing Kim?" 

Trini hissed in a breath and leaned away. "Ouch."

"Twenty-three years is a long time between visits, Trini." Tommy shook his head. "Annual Christmas cards and the occasional work-related email doesn't cut it for friendship." His voice was sad. Not accusatory, just sad. "When we were Rangers together, we thought nothing could pull us apart. Now we don't even know each other any more. So you tell me, what would Jason make of that? I don't even know what happened, and I was here the whole time."

Billy watched as Trini shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Everything Tom had said was true, he reflected sorrowfully. When Jason had gone into stasis, they'd still been the solid phalanx of friends and teammates, in close touch and involved in each other's lives. Zordon's death had begun the slow spiral of unraveling; it had been Kim that had held them together, sending group emails, scheduling reunions. And then she had died. And the unraveling was complete.

There had been a long period of silence between them all, broken by Kat after about six months. But nothing could rebuild what they'd had.

Trini opened her mouth, and Billy knew with an almost psychic certainty that she was steeling herself to tell Tom about Kailey, when Tommy himself interrupted her. "I'm sorry, Tri. You didn't deserve that." He shook his head, clearly disgusted with himself. "I'm being an idiot. You're here, that's what counts. And if there is a new danger to face, well, there's nobody I trust more than you guys."

Trini closed her mouth again.

~*~

Rocky pulled out Miri's seat in the mess hall with a debonair flourish. "It's not every day I get to lunch with a pretty girl."

Miri chuckled, fanning the cup of hot chocolate he set down in front of her. "Ooh, is this real chocolate? We don't have the real thing on the Station."

Rocky took the seat opposite. "Tell me about the Station. Your dad's invited me to come out there and have a look, but somehow I've never gotten around to it."

"Mmm." Miri savored the chocolate for a moment before speaking. "You should. She sits on the edge of the most beautiful nebula, and the facilities are very comfortable."

"Now did you grow up on the Station?"

"No, though there are plenty of families there." Miri smiled in fond recollection. "I spent most of my early years on Aquitar with my parents. Dad and I only moved to the Station full time after Mom passed away."  


Rocky gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Miri. I met your mom once. She was a great lady, and very beautiful. You…" but there he trailed off, and Miri knew what he was thinking.

"She was beautiful, wasn't she? And a wonderful mother, even though I wasn't her biological child."

Rocky heaved a sigh of relief. "I wasn't sure if you knew."

Miri met his gaze openly. "What, that I'm a clone of my dad? Sure. Though we're not perfectly identical, obviously. This treatment for your friend Jason is based largely on the cloning technology. Even if Dad hadn't been perfectly frank about it, it would have been sort of hard to miss, given how much we look alike. That and I don't have gills." She chuckled.

Rocky considered that with a smile. "There it is."

"There what is?"

"The Kim in you. I was looking for it. It's in your sense of humor. And in the love of chocolate, of course." Miri chuckled again, and Rocky changed the subject. "So tell me about the IRF."

"Sure. What do you want to know?

"Well, for one thing, what happened to Pink?"

Miri laughed aloud. "Kim did."

He gave her a mock frown. "'Splain, Lucy."

"Well, you know that Dad got the idea years ago after all you Red Rangers went haring off into space after something or another."

"Serpentera, yeah. So?"

"He thought that perhaps in creating a large peacekeeping force, the color designations could be used to denote divisions devoted to different areas of defense. So Yellow became technology and tactical, Blue became science, Black became covert, and Red command and military. Still with me?" Rocky nodded; Miri grinned and went on. "Green is a division of covert with an emphasis on special weapons."

"Yeah, I got that earlier today. So Pink?"

Miri giggled. "At the inception of the IRF, you friend Kim made what was apparently an impassioned speech, the gist of which was that the designation of Pink was clearly an antiquated and sexist way to get a miniskirt on a spandex clad woman."

With a loud snort Rocky spit his cocoa onto the table between them, laughing fit to split his sides. "Oh my God," he finally managed. "That so sounds like her."

Miri shrugged. "So Pink, and White, became part of Red division. Which is why Katherine Oliver would be part of Red auxiliary, like you."

Rocky was busy mopping up the cocoa. "You're a young one to know so much."

She shrugged again, her blue eyes challenging. "It's not nepotism. I graduated the Academy on Eltar at thirteen, got my first doctorate at fourteen. I've been active in the IRF for years, unlike a lot of cadets my age."

"Yep." Rocky tossed the soggy paper towels into a nearby trash receptacle. "You're definitely Billy's daughter."

~*~

Scott walked around to the rear of the ship, following the sound of voices. Commander Myers had seconded Scott's father, agreeing that Scott should help out the Admiral's crew wherever possible. Commander Myers himself was going to accompany SC Earhardt-Myers to the officer's mess and thence to his quarters, where he would, as he put it, "restore family harmony". Scott snorted. SC Earhardt-Myers was a knockout, for an older woman. And Commander Myers had been grinning like a wolf.

"Have you got it, Ba'altesch?" 

The voice he heard was sweet and musical. Scott quickened his steps. New cadets at the ACC were always of interest, and this one sounded… He rounded the back end of the ship in time to see a very shapely rear end wiggling its way toward him. It took Scott a second for his brain to focus. It was a girl, small and slim, but very nicely packaged, wrestling with something large and unwieldy, trying to pull it out of the ship.

A tenor grunt from the bowels of the ship startled him, and the girl in front of him glanced into the ship sharply. "What do you mean you haven't – " followed by a low rumble. Whatever the girl had been bent over, had decided to come loose. Before he'd thought twice about it Scott had leapt forward and caught the girl, bracing the object with an arm on either side of her.

Some sort of machine or other, he realized, and then the weight eased as a large blue face bobbed up on the far side of the thing. "Sorry," the blue – er – person fluted, a deeper blue flush on his cheeks. "Lost my grip."

Scott let his arms drop, and the girl turned around to face him, smiling up at him. "Thank you for not losing yours."

Looking down at her, Scott briefly considered debating the point. She was pretty. Really, really pretty. Not conventionally, but with a warmth and sweet generosity in her expression that – that was now looking at him as though he'd grown another head. Belatedly he realized he'd forgotten to say anything. 

"No problem," he managed. It probably would have sounded smoother if he hadn't had to clear his throat and repeat himself.

"I'm Kailey," she said. "Kailey Kwan."

"Scott Oliver," he replied, relieved that he'd remembered his name. Then it clicked. "Oh, you must be related to Commander Kwan."

The girl smiled again, and Scott suspected his expression had gone all goofy, but he tried to ignore it. 

She laughed, waving a hand in front of his face. "Hello?"

"What?"

"I said, Commander Kwan is my mom, but it didn't look like you'd heard me."

Oh. "Oh. Um, sorry. I'm a little distracted."

A flicker of concern crossed her smooth brow. "Are you okay?"

Scott smiled. "Yeah. I'm fine. Kailey." He tried out her name, discovering he liked saying it. "Kailey. That's an interesting name."

She grinned at him. "Short for Kimberly. Kay at the beginning and lee at the end."

Scott shook his head. "Kailey suits you better."

That got another laugh. "That's what my mom says."

The big blue person approached them. "I've got everything unloaded, Kailey. Dr. Cranston and I will need your help setting it up tomorrow, but for now you're free, if you like." He smiled at Scott. "Perhaps this young Ranger would be kind enough to introduce you around a little."

"Oh," Kailey looked up at him again. Her eyes were just the color of caramel, Scott mused. "Would you mind?"

Scott decided the blue guy was his new best friend for suggesting it. "Sure. I'd be glad to," he said, pleased. "Are you hungry?"

She laughed again. "I'm always hungry. Ba'altesch," she added to the alien, "want to come?"

Ba'altesch looked from Kailey to Scott and grinned. "No, honey, I don't think so. I'll see you in the morning."

Scott grinned too. Definitely his new best friend. "Come on, Kailey, I'll introduce you to the gang."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

A/N: For the purposes of this story, Rocky went to the moon with the Red Rangers. Jason didn't. 

As always, my gratitude to Rach, beta queen. And to Kev for letting me borrow him, and being all bouncy.

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 4

Trini prowled her temporary quarters, picking things up and putting them down again, changing the light level, rearranging the two pillows on the narrow bed. She sighed, plopping down and hugging a cushion across her midsection. What a mess.

There was a tap at her door. She got up and palmed the control to open it; Billy stood there, hands clasped behind his back. She stepped back and gestured him in before resuming her seat on the bed, not looking at him.

There was a long silence.

"Well, go ahead," Trini finally said, digging her chin into the pillow she was clutching.

Billy shrugged. "I don't even know where to start."

"All right, I'll go first. I meant to tell them, I really did. I've been meaning to tell them all along, it just… I just never found the right way to do it. And the longer my silence grew, the harder it got to say." She sighed. "I even meant to say something before we came, and then right after we got here… I just don't know what words to use."

He nodded. "I can see that, certainly. But you have to say something soon, Tri. They're bound to run into Kailey. It's a big place, but it's not that big." He sat next to her and draped an arm across he shoulders, pulling her into a one-armed embrace. "It won't be as bad as you think. They all know about Miri. Kailey's not that different. It's the secrecy that'll bother them."

"I know." Trini rubbed her nose. "I'm just afraid they'll see her as Kim. And I know that's where I started with this, a way to keep a little of Kim with me, to have the child she wanted but didn't get the chance to have. But the first time she kicked inside me, everything changed, Bill. She was mine, my baby. That face – that's not Kim's face to me, it's my daughter's. And I – I don't want the others to misunderstand."

"So that's why you pulled away from everyone, except me and Cestria." It wasn't a question. He gave her a squeeze. "You need to have a little more faith in the people that care about you. Just explain it like you've explained it to me. They'll understand."

She looked at him doubtfully. "You think?"

He gave her a confident smile. "I know."

~*~

The air in the ACC conservatory was moist and warm, smelling of clean earth and growing things. Scott held the door open as Kailey slipped inside.

"We have an arboretum like this on the Station, but it's mostly hydroponic." Kailey gently cupped a fragile blossom and brought it to her nose. "Mmm. What's this one?"

"Gardenia. My mom loves these." Scott touched a white petal with a fingertip.

She tucked a strand of cocoa-colored hair behind her ear. "Thank you for showing this to me. For the whole afternoon, in fact."

"My pleasure."

"I liked meeting your friends."

He quirked a smile. "They sure liked meeting you."

Blush stained her cheeks, and Kailey quickly became interested in another flower. "I don't know what you mean. What's this one?"

He broke off a fern and feathered it across her ear and neck. "A Gerbera daisy, and yes you do."

"They were all very nice."

He snorted. "They certainly were. A little too nice, if you want my opinion."

Kailey slanted a glance up at him through her lashes. "What's wrong with being nice? Did you want them to haul off and slap me or something?"

Scott laughed at that. "Hardly." He watched her wander through the arbor for a moment. "So what's your job on this assignment?"

Kailey looked over her shoulder at him. "Nominal, really. I'm just a Yellow tech drone on this one. The only reason I'm here is because my mom finally agreed to show me the planet we come from. I've been bothering her for years about it." She sat on a mossy rock and beckoned to him.

He joined her, stroking the fern down the length of her arm. "It's a nice place, Earth. You've never been here before?"

"No. Born on Eltar, raised on the Station."

"I'd like to see that Station someday," Scott mused. "Space travel… I know it's not uncommon, but it's still an exciting idea to me. Is your dad from Earth too?"

Kailey shook her head. "Haven't got one. It's just me and Mom."

"I'm sorry, Kailey, I didn't mean to pry." Scott flushed, but she patted his arm.

"It's okay." She wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees. "See, my mom had a friend who was a Ranger too. She died saving the Station. And the last thing she said to my mom was that she wished she'd lived long enough to have a baby of her own." Kailey sighed. "I have to backtrack. You see, Uncle Bill – that's the Admiral – he and Aunt Cestria couldn't have kids together, because she was Aquitian."

Scott nodded. "Okay. Go on."

"So they used Uncle Bill's DNA and a little of this friend's DNA to make a baby for them. And Mom says that her friend Kim – that's who I'm named for – carried the baby for them as well, and really loved being pregnant and everything. So that was why she'd wanted a child of her own. Anyway, so after she died, Mom decided that she'd have the baby for her friend, and so they created me from her DNA and implanted me in Mom, and here I am." 

Scott thought about that. "She must have been something special, this friend of your mom's."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because your mom loved her so much." He grinned. "I know for sure this Kim had to be cute."

She giggled, blushed, and hid her face. "What are your parents like?" Kailey asked after a while.

"Hmm." Scott thought about that. "Well, my dad is a nice guy, but he's sort of the Uber-Ranger. Started when he was just a kid, and never stopped. Well, you know the story. Anyway, he's pretty involved in all the Ranger stuff, so I never saw much of him, really, until I joined. My mom… you'd like her. She's always looking out for the other guy, you know? And she's a lot of fun." He chuckled. "For a mom. Your mom seems nice," he added. Kailey smiled. "Think she'd like me?"

"Sure she would." Kailey glanced at him, then away. "I do."

Scott placed two fingers under her chin and turned her face to his. "Do you now?"

And then neither of them said anything for a while.

~*~

On the bottommost level of the ACC, preparations were beginning.

Ba'altesch carefully attached the last transmitter to the frame he'd been constructing. "Is there enough room?" he asked worriedly.

Miri stepped into the confines of the frame. "I think so. It's only for a few days, anyway, if all goes well."

"And if it does not?" Ba'altesch inquired. "It's important you be comfortable, Dr. Cranston. Both you and the subject."

Miri smiled. "I will be. And it's not going to go wrong."

The big blue alien nodded, his eyes dark and sympathetic. "I ran all the diagnostics on the stasis shielding; everything running at optimal levels. We'll be ready to start once the sterile area is engaged and the equipment in place. I have Kailey on standby to help me set up first thing in the morning."

Miri nodded. "So we'll begin by tomorrow midday, then. I'll let Dad know."

~*~

The helicopter touched down gently on pad seven and slipped quietly through the polar ice to the docking bay below. The copter's clear polyvinyl door loosened and swung open just as Tommy strode into the bay, a grin on his face. "Hey, honey."

Kat Oliver stretched an elegant, red-clad leg from the helicopter and stepped lightly to the bay floor, graceful as the dancer she'd once been. "Hullo, love. The twins are beside themselves; your folks send their love. Am I late?"

He kissed her. "Not at all. Rocky's here, but he's about it. We had word from Cassie a while ago. She's doing a fly-by through SoCal to pick up a crew of Red Aux at NASADA. Ought to be here shortly. In the meantime…" he bent his head and kissed her again. "I missed you."

"Missed you too, though it's only been a few days," she replied laughingly. "What's this all about? And about Jason - is Billy here yet? I'll be so glad to see him in person for a change."

"Yep, he's here. And Trini, too. Who said she wants to talk to us when you get in, before the Red Aux debrief." 

That stopped Kat in her tracks. "Trini? Really?" She thought about that. "Wow. That's – that's wonderful." She smiled. "It's been far too long."

He tucked her slim hand through the crook of his arm. "Well, come on then. Oh, and I think Scott's found himself a girl."

Kat halted again. "What?"

Tommy grinned mischievously. "Someone on Billy's crew. I didn't want to ask too many questions because I don't want to be branded the heavy father, but when I saw him at lunch he had the look."

His wife chuckled. "Glazed and dazed? That's my boy. Well, you have been having a busy time of it down here, haven't you?"

~*~

Rocky studied Trini's face as they arranged themselves around the conference table again. She looked nervous, and on her serene countenance that was saying something. Billy sat next to her, giving her a reassuring smile. He knew what was up, then.

Tommy came in, Kat on his arm; Rocky greeted her with affection and resumed his seat. Trini took a deep breath.

"I guess the first thing I want to say to you all is, I'm sorry. Sorry for dropping below the radar all these years. I know Bill's done a much better job of keeping up with you, and I haven't. I wish I had, because it would make what I have to tell you all much easier." She bit her lip. "It's my fault that we lost close touch. You see – something happened – I made a choice that – " Trini got to her feet and started to pace. She glanced at Billy, who nodded. Trini hugged herself. "I have a daughter that none of you have ever met."

"What?" This was Kat, leaning forward in her seat. "When – who – why would you keep that a secret?"

"Did the guy leave you in the lurch or something, Tri?" Tommy got to his feet and took her hand. "Why didn't you tell us? We wouldn't have judged you. We would have tried to help. Don't you know that?"

Rocky was watching Trini closely. "Hang on, guys. That's not it, is it, Trini?"

"No." She swallowed. "I made the choice to have this child on my own. There's no father involved."

Kat looked bewildered, her blue eyes hurt. "I still don't understand why you didn't let us know. How old is the child?"

Trini cast Billy another nervous look. "Twenty-two."

Astonished, Tommy sat down again. "You've kept this from us for twenty-two years?

Trini nodded. "Since right after Kim died, yeah."

"But why?"

The door to the conference room slid open, and a young woman in a Yellow div. Uniform came in, flanked by a smiling Scott Oliver. "You wanted me, Mom? I hope you don't mind, I brought – um –" There was a collective gasp; the girl halted uncertainly, looking around, then focusing on Trini. "M-mom?"

Rocky stared, his jaw hanging open. Tommy leapt to his feet, sending his chair flying backwards, hands palm out as if to ward the girl off. Kat gasped, her hands to her mouth.

"Kim?" The whisper came from Tommy, who looked as though he might faint.

"No, Tom." Trini had herself under control now, and went to the wide-eyed girl, putting her arms around her. "This is my daughter Kailey."

Tommy's face went alternately white, then red. He turned on Trini. "Get her out of here."

Billy got to his feet. "Calm down, Tom. Let Trini explain."

"Explain what?" Tommy's fists were tightly clenched, his entire body shaking. "That you're a pair of vultures, the two of you? You couldn't let her rest in peace, you had to make a new one? What?"

"Dad!" The young Black Ranger, Scott, was clearly shocked. "She's not – "

"Get away from her, Scott," Tommy hissed. 

"Dad!" Scott had gone from shocked to horrified. "Don't – "

Tommy turned on his son, advancing until his face was within inches of the blond young man. "I said get away from her. Whatever you think you feel, it's not real. She isn't real. She's a thing, a construct, an imposter, and I will not allow – "

"Thomas!" A shout erupted from Kat, who had leapt to her feet. "Stop this!"

Kailey, for her part, had gone white to the roots. All at once Rocky felt sorry for her. She had Kim's face, but she had no part in whatever Trini had done or not done. And she didn't deserve this. He slipped behind Tommy and hooked an arm around her waist. "Come on, honey," he whispered under cover of angry voices. "Let's get out of here. You don't need to listen to this crap."

She raised a doubtful face to his, and the hurt expression in her wide brown eyes caught at his heart. "C'mon, baby. Let me get you out of here." After a moment she nodded, once, quickly, and Rocky tugged her out of the room.

~*~

"What the hell is the matter with you, Dad?" Scott yelled, pushing his father back a step.

Tommy snarled and advanced again, his body tense. "Don't you speak to me that way, and don't you – ever – lay a hand on me, unless you're willing to take it all the way."

A holopad hit him in the back of his head, and he rounded to find his wife furiously facing him. "What are you going to do now, beat up our son? Dammit, Tom, what the hell IS the matter with you?"

He stood still, breathing hard through his nose before turning to Trini and Billy. "You had no right. YOU HAD NO RIGHT!"

That was it. Trini got right in Tommy's face. "This is exactly what I was afraid of. You jerk! When Kim died, you acted like she somehow belonged to you more than to the rest of us, like somehow you cared more, were grieving more! How dare you tell me I had no right, as though somehow you were the arbiter of all things Kim! My God, Tommy, how dare you!"

Billy folded his arms across his chest, his face a stony mask of anger. His voice was cold. "You had no problem with Miri, so it's not an objection to cloning in general. And Miri carries some of Kim's DNA, so it's not that."

"No!" Tommy shouted. "The two cases are nothing alike. Miri's not a direct clone of you. She's her own person, not some blurred replacement of someone."

__

Crack! Trini slapped him, hard, leaving a livid red mark. "Damn you, Tom, Kailey is her own person! She's no closer to being Kim than you are!" She gritted her teeth and went on doggedly. "Kim could never be replaced, nor would any of us try. But she wanted a child of her own, and she didn't live long enough to have her. So I had her instead. And this was the only way to do it."

Kat had remained silent since her initial outburst, staring at the expression of horrified distaste on her son's face. She turned to her husband, tears tracking down her face. "Damn you indeed, Thomas Oliver. Twenty-four years we've been married, and yet given a glimpse of a face that looks like Kim's, your son's happiness and your grasp on reality go out the window." Kat notched her chin up a fraction. "You can't even wait to hear the explanation. Billy's right. You don't object to cloning in general. It's Kim, so you automatically go mad."

He stared at her. "Kat – I thought – I thought you'd agree. I thought you'd understand."

"Oh, I understand, Tom. I understand that where Kim is concerned, the reality of the last quarter-century goes a little hazy for you. I understand that you can't see what you've just done to your son, and to our marriage." She sighed. "I understand that you loved her." Her blue eyes flashed. "But we all loved her, Tom. All of us. Not just you. So it must be that you think you loved her best. So where does that leave me?"

He opened and closed his mouth. 

"I'll find my own quarters tonight. I'll see you all tomorrow," Kat finished and turned to leave.

"Kat…" Trini reached out a hand, and Kat stopped with a watery smile.

"It's not you, Tri. I'm sorry you had to hide her. It's…" Kat took a hitching breath. "It's good to see that sweet face again, even if it hurts a little. I'll see you." With that she left, her head high. Scott, after a murderous glare at his father, followed her, calling her name.

Trini looked at Billy for a long moment, then at Tommy, who sat heavily in a chair. "I'd better go find my daughter. Bless Rocky for stepping in like that."

Billy nodded and watched her go.

"How?" He glanced at Tommy, who was looking at him with an imploring look. "How could you do it, Bill?"

He shook his head. "It was her last wish, Tom. How could we not?"

"But – "

"Tom." Billy touched the other man's shoulder. "Remember the time I was duplicated by Rita?" Tommy nodded. "Did you feel that we were somehow the same person?"

"No. He looked enough like you to be your twin, but you were totally different."

"And did the fact of his existence make mine mean less?"

"No, of course not."

"Right." And Billy left him there.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

A/N: For the purposes of this story, Rocky went to the moon with the Red Rangers. Jason didn't. 

Thanks to Rach and Scarlet Deva for keeping me in line, and to the Girl in the Red Jacket for sharing. Kev, the middle part is all for you.

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 5

"Dr. Cranston?"

"Hmm?" Miri's eyes were on the monitor in front of her. She glanced up after a moment to see Ba'altesch looking at her reproachfully. "Oh. Sorry. How many times did you call me this time?"

"Four."

Miri blushed. "Honestly, I am sorry, Ba'altesch. What did you need me for?"

The large blue alien shrugged. "I don't. I was merely inquiring whether you intended to eat this evening, and if so whether you would care to join me."

"Oh." She smiled up at him. "Not right now, thanks. I want to go over this data again, make sure we've anticipated everything."

Ba'altesch sighed, shaking his great head. "Nobody can anticipate everything, Dr. Cranston. This is just nervous energy. Perhaps we should call in young Kailey and set up the equipment now, so that we can be ready to begin immediately in the morning."

It was Miri's turn to shake her head. "Didn't you say she had hit it off with that Black div. Ranger? No, if she's having a good time, I'll let her be. This project's been waiting for nearly twenty-five years. It can wait another night." She turned back to the rows of data on the monitor. "You go ahead, Ba'altesch. Take the rest of the night; I'll see you in the morning."

He frowned. "You're not planning on spending the night here, by any chance?"

Miri looked around the large, spare laboratory, here in the lowest level of the ACC. One entire wall was covered with computer terminals, alive and blinking companionably, a mute testament to the mechanical well being of the ACC in general. A low couch was slung against another wall, and against the third, set a little distance away, was a large, black rectangle, inside which rested the purpose of Miri's visit. This last was now framed with PVC piping, to which was attached minute transmitters that would enclose her, the equipment she'd helped develop, and her subject in a sterile field when the time came. In the meantime, there was a ton of data to wade through, and Miri intended to have most of it committed to memory when that time arrived. So…

"No, of course not," she lied, smiling.

Clearly dissatisfied by her answer, Ba'altesch stared at her for a while, then shrugged. "Have it your way, Dr. Cranston. But do bear in mind that you will need all your energy the next few days."

"Duly noted. Now go eat, okay?"

Miri sighed in relief when the door to the lab swished shut behind her assistant. She liked Ba'altesch very much, but his tendency to mother hen, while endearing, sometimes got in Miri's way. And this was way too important for that.

She scanned the monitor again, her trained eye easily picking out the predicted anomalies and their compensation. It certainly seemed comprehensive, but… no. She couldn't take the chance. Her father was all she had, and the failure of this project would crush him like nothing else he'd had to endure. He'd lost her mother, his best friend, his father… Each loss had chipped away at him, but not this time. Not if Miri could help it.

The Admiral was not a gregarious man, though friendly enough. He'd told her he was painfully shy in his youth, and he'd never quite lost the reserved demeanor that had kept him emotionally afloat in his teens. An outsider might speculate that he was not a warm man, nor a deep one; but Miri knew better than anyone how deeply William Cranston could love, and how deeply he could hurt. It was just the two of them, now, together; and Miri swore to herself, again, that this time her father would have cause to rejoice, not mourn.

Her comm bleeped. "Baby girl?"

Miri raised her brows. "What's wrong, Dad?"

"What makes you think something's wrong?" Billy sounded bemused.

"You haven't called me 'baby girl' for years. What's happened?"

"Well, you are my baby girl, so I don't see why I shouldn't…" His tone mildly affronted, Billy trailed off. 

"Dad…"

He made a sound suspiciously like a 'humph'. "The truth is there are some things happening just now that require some attention from me, so I don't quite know when I'll be able to join you."

Miri frowned. "Should I postpone?"

"No." He hesitated, then repeated, "No. Stick with your game plan. There isn't anything I could do that you can't handle. I'll stay in touch and get down there when I can. You're knocking off for the night soon anyway, aren't you?"

"Um, sure."

"Miranda Cestria Cranston, don't lie to your father." Billy chuckled. "At least promise me you'll get some kind of sleep, okay? The project's important, but you are, after all, my baby girl."

She grinned. "I promise."

~*~

On a bench in the recreation center, a middle-aged man held a young woman close and rubbed his cheek against her hair, remembering.

Rocky tucked the girl's head under his chin as she hiccuped against his shirt, sniffling. "You know," he said, almost conversationally, " I recall holding another pretty girl like this, oh, a long time ago. Her mom was moving to Paris, and she was afraid she wouldn't see her friends again. But it worked out."

Another sniff, and then a pair of watery brown eyes blinked up at him. "Who was that?"

"Your – " Rocky paused. "I don't know what relation Kim would be to you. She's not your mom, that's Trini."

"Oh." Kailey rubbed her nose with a fist. "More like a sibling; a twin. She cried all over you too?"

"Uh huh."

"That's why you're so good at this comforting thing, then." Rocky chuckled; Kailey hiccuped again. "So you were one of her friends? And Mom's and Uncle Bill's?"

"Yep. I guess that would make me your Uncle Rocky. Or just Rocky, if you think the uncle part is weird."

"This whole thing is weird." She looked at him again, searching his face. "Don't you think it's weird? Aren't you a little freaked out by me?"

He hesitated, then told her the truth. "A little. I'll admit you were something of a shock. But that's your mom's fault, if it's anyone's. Certainly not yours."

Kailey thought about that, then sighed. "Why does Scott's dad hate me? I really – I really wanted him to like me."

Now there was a complicated question. Rocky took a minute to order his thoughts. "I don't think he does, Kailey. It's the idea of you that he can't stand, not you personally. Kim was his first love; but their relationship took some odd turns, not the least because of the whole Ranger thing, which at that time had to be secret. My recollection of the two of them is that he had this visceral need to protect and save her, even after they weren't in love any more. And when she died, and he wasn't there, I think maybe that took more out of him than even he realizes."

Kailey nodded slowly. "Maybe." She looked at him again quickly. "But you don't feel that way."

Touched by the look in her brown eyes, Rocky pulled her close for a hug. "Oh, honey. It tore us all up when Kim died, but… no. In fact, I am looking forward to getting to know you. I wish your mom hadn't kept you from us all this time, but we can make up for it if we try. Would you mind?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't think so."

Scott skidded up then, all out of breath. "Kailey, are you okay? I didn't know where you'd gone… please tell me you don't hate me because of what my dad said." He knelt next to her and looked into her face, his expression anxious. "Kailey?"

She blushed and ducked her head. "Of course I don't." 

Rocky slid off the bench. "And I think that's my exit cue. If you have things here, Scotty, I'll go find Trini and make sure you still have a father."

"Don't go out of your way on my account," the younger man all but growled. "Kailey and I will be okay, though. Thanks, Unk."

~*~

Ba'altesch moved with stately tread toward the canteen. None of the foods in the mess hall had appealed to him, and someone – a lovely young woman, Red div. – had suggested he try the canteen for more unusual fare.

The door to the canteen slid open, and for a moment Ba'altesch was marginally bewildered by the darkness within, punctuated freely by flashing lights. An organized noise that the large blue alien belatedly recognized as music poured through the open door. He nodded to himself. "Similar to a nightclub," he murmured, his voice a low rumble. Ba'altesch smiled broadly. "Marvelous. It appears I begin expanding my social horizons more immediately than I had hoped."

He stepped in, the door closed, and immediately Ba'altesch was conscious of being the cynosure of all eyes. He grinned and waved to all and sundry, and then began his majestic stride toward a vacant table near the center of the room. He eyed the small chair placed there doubtfully, then shrugged, mentally casting his fate to the winds.

After he'd settled his considerable frame into the chair, and not without some minor trepidation when the metal began to creak in protest, Ba'altesch raised a ham-sized palm in what he hoped was the accepted manner. Sure enough and to his expressed delight, a waiter came over at a brisk trot.

"What can I get you?"

"I was told that you would be able to supply me with some shimor, and perhaps a quantity of gesunian." Ba'altesch gave the waiter his best smile; the astonished waiter took an involuntary step back. Ba'altesch toned down the grin.

"I – sure. I'll see what we have on file. Is replicated okay?"

"Replicated," said Ba'altesch expansively, "will be most acceptable."

And really, he mused later, finishing the dish of shimor, it was. Most acceptable indeed. He lifted the tankard of gesunian to his lips and took a healthy pull, and was therefore surprised when he lowered the tankard to find a young woman on the other side. She smiled at him, and he returned the expression, mindful of the waiter's earlier response. "Good evening, young lady," Ba'altesch said politely.

"Hello," she returned. "You're new on the station."

"Just as of this morning, yes. I am called Ba'altesch."

"I'm Bambi," the woman cooed, resting her ample mammary glands on the tabletop. "You're from Qetre, aren't you?" At his nod, she smiled wider, which he wouldn't have thought was possible. "I've heard about your people, I think. Your religion includes the worship of women, doesn't it?"

"Well," Ba'altesch said cautiously, noting the approach of several more young women of varying shapes and sizes, "in a way. Would you like me to tell you about it?"

She wiggled closer, and he noted with interest that when her body ceased its forward motion, several bits of her continued to wiggle. "Maybe," she breathed, her hand lightly caressing his thigh, "you could show me? A private lesson?"

"Oh – um," said Ba'altesch, light beginning to dawn, "well, I – I don't think – that is – "

"Come now," Bambi pouted. "Isn't it true that your men can't refuse a woman? I'm sure you've noticed," she smiled, "that I am all woman."

He cleared his throat. "Yes, well, as a member of the medical profession it behooves me to recognize females of many species. But as to the other – "

Another set of mammaries interrupted him, presenting themselves across his line of vision as their owner gloated. "Nice try, Bam-bam, but he doesn't want you. He wants a nice girl, not the ACC version of shareware. Hi," the mammaries lowered and a face appeared above them. "I'm Donna. You're a big one, aren't you?"

"A-among my people I am considered to be of average size," Ba'altesch began, but was interrupted again.

"Remind me to book my next leave for a trip to Qetre," a third woman seated herself at the table. "Hi there," she wiggled her fingers at him. "I'm Mandi."

"Oh – um – hello," Ba'altesch stammered.

"All right, ladies, back off and let the man enjoy his dinner." The voice was clear and strong, but not unfeminine. With varying degrees of haste, the throng of women dispersed. Ba'altesch found himself looking at a slightly older woman, clad in the uniform of an SC, either black or green. In this light it was hard to judge.

Ba'altesch eyed her warily. She grinned. "Don't worry, I won't try to seduce you. You looked uncomfortable, so…" She glared at the bold approach of another woman. "Mind if I sit down?" He indicated the chair opposite, and the woman swung it around and sat in it backwards, leaning her arms across the back. "My name's Maya."

He inclined his head. "I am called Ba'altesch."

She thought for a moment. " 'Gentle, lovable one'?" Maya smiled. "My Qetren may be a little rusty."

Ba'altesch smiled at her. She was pretty, for a human. Long, curly dark hair, light skin, pleasant features. "No, that's right. You've visited my world, then?"

She nodded. "I was posted there for a few years, right after Qetre joined the Alliance. It's a beautiful place."

"It is." Ba'altesch signaled the waiter. "May I get you some gesunian, or another drink if that's not your preference?"

"No, but thanks. I just wanted to run interference for you, but if you're okay…" Maya got to her feet. Ba'altesch tossed a few credits on the table and got up as well. She looked up at him. "Don't let these girls chase you out of here. They'll leave you alone now."

He shrugged. "I merely came to find some dinner. Perhaps I will amuse myself by exploring this ACC of yours before I attempt to locate my quarters."

"Oh." She hesitated, and Ba'altesch mentally crossed his fingers. "Would you like me to show you around a little? So you don't lose your way?"

He smiled beatifically. "That would be lovely."

~*~

"Dr. Cranston?"

At the sound of her name, Miri fell off the chair she'd fallen asleep in and hit the lab floor with a thump. "Ow," she protested, pushing her honey-colored hair out of her face. She looked up to see Ba'altesch looming over her, Kailey behind him. "I thought we were going to let Kailey be for tonight."

"It isn't tonight anymore," the big blue alien boomed. "It's tomorrow morning. I thought we'd discussed that you weren't going to spend the night on this, Dr. Cranston," he added reproachfully. "I knew I should have stayed. You didn't eat anything either, did you?"

"No." Miri got off the floor, grumbling. "What I wouldn't give for some –" From behind her back Kailey pulled out a steaming cup of coffee. Miri sighed happily. "Bless you, my child."

"And a bagel," the smaller woman added with a shadowed smile. 

Miri stared at her sharply. "What happened to you? Did that guy – "

Kailey held up both hands. "No, 'that guy' didn't do anything. His name is Scott, by the way."

Miri squinted through coffee steam at her as she took a sip. "So what did happen? It's obvious something did. You're all puffy."

Kailey shot her a look. "Thanks, I feel so pretty. It's no big deal. I met some of my mom's old friends last night, is all."

"And?"

She shrugged. "And they weren't so happy to meet me."

Miri stared, bewildered. "What?"

"From what I gathered from Commander Kwan this morning," Ba'altesch interposed softly, "Commander Oliver was shocked by Kailey's appearance into making some unkind remarks."

Blue eyes narrowed. "Oh, he did, did he? What exactly did he say?"

Kailey bent to examine a coupling on the side of the main equipment console. "You know what? I don't so much want to get back into this, if it's all the same to you. Can we just get this thing started?"

Miri watched her in surprise for a moment before replying. "Sure thing, pee wee."

"And don't call me pee wee," Kailey muttered, but Miri saw the smile she tried to hide, and chuckled.

~*~

A few hours later, the Blue div. doctors began the task they'd come to do. Kailey gave Miri a kiss goodbye and left them to it. The console had been set up on the far side of the room from the stasis bed, allowing Ba'altesch a good observational view.

He made a minute adjustment to the sterilizing field Miri stood in. "Just a few seconds more, Dr. Cranston."

She refused to look at him, but a blush suffused her entire body. "Ba'altesch, I'm standing here completely naked in front of you. I think it's safe to say that our working relationship has relaxed a little. Don't you think you could call me Miri?"

It was his turn to blush. "I don't think so, Dr. Cranston. My people hold women such as yourself in the highest esteem. For me to address you in such a manner would indicate that I consider myself your equal, and that is far from the truth."

She growled. "Whatever you say. Could you hurry this up, please?"

"Finished. You are perfectly sterile, Doctor." Ba'altesch averted his gaze as she slipped into scrubs and crossed the perimeter of the steri-field. "Ready?"

"Yep. Open it up."

The black shielding of the casket-shaped stasis bed pulled back, revealing a young man, looking for all the world as though asleep. He was thinner than in his pictures, his hair was slightly longer, his skin slightly paler; but the man before her was unquestionably Jason Scott, frozen in time like a photograph. Miri brushed her fingertips across the clear plexi that still blocked out the world.

"Hey there, Rip," she whispered. "Time to wake up."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

All hail Rach, who rocks my world regularly. But not in an inappropriate way.

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 6

"All right. Any further questions?"

The Red Aux debrief was slowly wrapping up. Billy scanned the crowd, seeing several familiar faces, and even more that he didn't know except through Tommy's recommendations that occasionally crossed his desk. The debrief had been postponed from the evening before, due to the whole Kailey debacle, and even now Billy could tell Tom was still thrown by the fallout. He kept darting looks at Kat, who kept her own eyes studiously on her holopad. Billy shook his head. Never in a million years would he have predicted Tom could be such an ass.

The conference room door opened suddenly, and Eric Myers strode in, flanked by Scott Oliver and Maya of Mirinoi, a Green div. SC stationed to Earth recently. Billy quietly got to his feet and met Eric at the side of the room.

"Admiral," Eric greeted him. "Thought you'd better see this." He handed Billy a holopad. 

Billy scanned the contents and frowned. He caught Tommy's eye. "Sorry to interrupt you, Commander. There's been a new development. Commander Myers?"

The room swung its collective attention to Eric, who cleared his throat. "We've had a report from NASA.The space shuttle launch scheduled for yesterday morning was hijacked. The bodies of the flight crew and astronauts were found in much the same condition as the deaths you've been reviewing on your holopads." There was a rustle while various Red Rangers consulted their pads, murmuring and nodding. "We were unclear how this information related to our current situation until this morning. Some years ago, after the discovery of Serpentera, Black div. placed a series of silent alarms on the ruins of the moon base used by Zedd and others. This morning those alarms went crazy." 

This remark caused further consternation. Tommy took the floor.

"Thanks, Commander." He turned to the group of Rangers. "Well, it seems we know our perpetrator's destination. I'll need a volunteer squad to take the Galactic Interceptor and check it out." A forest of hands went up. Tommy grinned in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "Rocky, I'll need you here. Cole, your expertise is still this planet, but thanks. Cassie, you've got command."

The pretty ex-Pink Ranger nodded as Tommy continued. "Wes, you'll second Cass. Carter, I'll want you on board too. Lewis, Vevila…" At this point Tommy faltered, and Billy knew why. Kat was far and away the best Red pilot going, and she'd practically knitted the Interceptor from scratch.

The blue-eyed Aussie knew too, and was pinning her husband with a laser-like stare. Tommy relented. "And Kat, you're at the helm. I want Alyssa here in the control room on full-range communications. Okay, everyone, let's get moving." 

The members of Red Aux got to their feet and filed out, passing Billy on the way. He watched sadly as Tommy tried to speak to his wife and was ignored. Scott slipped out after his mother after staring coldly through his father. 

Rocky joined Billy and offered a small smile; Billy gave his old friend a nod. Tommy came slowly over to them after the last Ranger had gone.

"So are either of you speaking to me?"

Rocky frowned at him. "If you want me to say that you're not a butthead, Tom, look somewhere else. You devastated that poor girl and you may have tanked your marriage, and for no real reason that I can see."

Tommy sighed, his shoulders slumped. "I…"

Billy scratched his chin. "Seems to me you need to come up with a better response than that, Tom. I love Kailey like my own, and if you ever speak to her like that again you'll answer to me." He sighed too. "That said, I do believe you didn't mean quite all of what you said. But you have some real fences to mend."

~*~

Miri yawned widely. Going on eight hours, she mused, checking her chronometer. 

"Shall I spell you?" Ba'altesch's gentle basso interrupted her thoughts.

She smiled over at him. "No, I'm okay for now. Besides, you'd have to get all sterile."

"I don't mind, Dr. Cranston." 

"I know you don't." She sighed. "Ba'altesch, I was thinking about what you said, that if you called me by my name it would mean you thought yourself my equal."

"Yes?"

Miri nodded. "You know I understand and respect your beliefs, Ba'altesch, and if you're really uncomfortable I won't push the issue. But I did just want to say one thing." She hesitated for a moment, then went ahead, "The thing is, we're not among your people. And among my people, the fact that you insist on calling me Dr. Cranston means that we're not friends. And I'd like for us to be friends."

There was a long silence. She looked over at him, concerned that she'd somehow offended him, and found instead Ba'altesch regarding her with tears in his black eyes. "My dear Miri," he said after another moment, "I do apologize. It didn't occur to me how it might appear to others. And I am honored to be considered a friend by a woman like you."

Suddenly a monitor on the stasis began beeping urgently. "What is it?" Miri's fingers flew over the controls, trying to compensate.

Ba'altesch had gotten to his feet and was concentrating on the readout. "An acceleration in the cloning matrix," he said. "The cell regeneration is speeding up."

Miri spat out an oath. "That didn't happen in any of the sims."

"And I am at a loss to explain why it's happening now."

"Can we stop it?"

Ba'altesch gritted his teeth. "I hope so. It's unlikely the body can handle this sort of stress."

Shockingly, the body in question groaned. Miri practically jumped out of her skin. "Holy – what the hell is going on?"

Jason's body arched, hard enough to knock the stasis bed controls askew. He seized, his torso jerking violently. Miri threw herself across him, trying to hold him still. "Ba'altesch! Compensate!"

"Trying!"

The duo in the steri-field thrashed and fought, Miri shouting at the unconscious man. "Dammit, you will not die on me now! Do you hear me? This is not an option!" She sprawled across him, using her body weight to keep him from crashing to the floor. An elbow caught her across the jaw, and she saw stars. "Ba'altesch! Do something!"

As suddenly as it began, it stopped, Jason's body relaxing. Miri dropped her head against his shoulder. "Thank God. Good job, Ba'altesch."

There was a pause. "I didn't do anything, Miri."

"What?" She scooted down and listened to the broad chest. Nothing. "Nonono NO!" Miri jerked herself upright, laced her hands together and began to compress his chest. "You listen to me, Jason Scott," she gritted between compressions. "My father needs you. Therefore I need you. And I don't like it when men let me down. So I suggest you knock this off right now and GET BACK HERE!"

"Miri?"

She thrust her twined fists into his chest again.

"Miri…"

And again.

"MIRI!"

"WHAT?"

Ba'altesch smiled. "I've got a pulse."

"Oh." She pushed a flyaway tendril of hair off her forehead, then bowed her head. "Thank God. Only another, what, thirty-two hours of this?"

The body under her shifted, and impossibly, a pair of dark brown eyes opened and squinted up at her. 

Ba'altesch cleared his throat. "Somehow I don't think it'll take that long…

~*~

"ACC, this is Interceptor. We are skirting the target area; no visual sign that there's anything unusual."

Alyssa nodded and adjusted the comm signal so that the image came in sharply on the big holoscreen at the back of the room. "Coming in loud and clear, Cassie. Proceed with flyby."

Billy, Tommy and Rocky stood a short distance behind the comm console and stared up at the screen. The palace looked much the same as it had when they'd gone after Serpentera, Rocky mused. Stark, cold, ruined. He'd been held in the bowels of that erstwhile palace – well, more times than he cared to count. It had always seemed a threatening place to him, at least in hindsight, but now, as the Interceptor swung around for another view, it just looked old and tired.

Kat's voice came across the link urgently. "Cass – see that?"

"Ops, anything on scanner?"

Wes answered her. "You bet, Cap. I got one – no, two life signs, but they're not like anyth–"

A white-hot bloom obscured the screen. There was a brief burst of muffled shouting, and then the comm link went dead.

"Alyssa!" Tommy bit out, color draining from his face.

"I'm trying to re-establish the link," she threw over her shoulder, her voice panicked. 

Billy ran forward to help, his long fingers scrambling over the commlink. After a few moments, he turned to Tommy, his face grim. "Nothing. There's nothing."

~*~

Kat set her jaw, her hands sure and steady even as the Interceptor careened toward the surface. Behind her, chaos reigned.

Cassie dragged herself into the command chair from the floor where she'd been thrown. "Report!" One of the younger Red Rangers, Vevila, pulled out a medikit, while young Lewis wielded a fire extinguisher in an attempt to keep the entire bridge from going up.

Wes coughed through the thick black smoke that poured from his console. "Ops offline," he began, staggering away from the damaged unit. He found an auxiliary terminal and began to assess the ship. "We've lost lateral stabilizers, we're leaking atmosphere and port thrusters are shot. We're only alive thanks to some expert flying, frankly. Oh, and at a guess I'd say the captain has a broken leg."

Cassie nodded and thumbed her comm. "Any hope of hyperspeed, Carter?"

Carter's voice crackled through the ship's communicator from the engine room. "Not unless you have a magic wand," he said dryly.

The ship sheared abruptly to the sound of groaning metal. 

"Any ideas?" Kat bit out from the helm. "I'm running out of options here."

Cassie shrugged, biting her lip at the pain the simple action caused. "Set us down without killing us?"

The elegant blonde grinned tightly. "You got it."

The next moments were a terrifying jumble. Kat mentally focused on the faces of her children and let her fingers do the walking, knowing from long experience that trained reflexes were as effective as conscious decisions in a situation like this. But despite her best efforts the Interceptor hit hard, jolting and shrieking, gouging a deep furrow in the lunar landscape. Finally, with a shuddering groan, the Interceptor ground slowly to a halt on the barren surface of the moon.

As second in command and with Cassie injured, Wes stepped up. "Everyone accounted for? Good. Activate atmosphere chips. We're going to have to evacuate until I can get a lockdown on the engines and make sure she's not going to blow on us." 

Each Ranger tapped their comm wrist units, enclosing themselves in personal atmosphere bubbles that would protect them from the cold vacuum of space. Carter joined them on the bridge; between them he and Wes hoisted Cassie up and the six left the Interceptor to assess their situation.

Outside, they stared in amazement at the melted nose cone of the ship. "Okay, I got two things to say about this," Wes said, shaking his head. "First, I'll reiterate what I said before: it's entirely due to Kat that we didn't just dive into the surface immediately. I can't imagine how you held it together, lady, but that was some serious flying. And second, what the hell hit us that could do that?"

She flashed him a grin and walked up to the hissing ship, running a finger gingerly over the melted portion. "This is what happened to the victims, remember? Rita and Zedd's home melted to slag, all the bodies burned nearly to ash."

Carter, kneeling by Cassie, nodded agreement. "We sure got someone's attention. Question is, whose?"

"Mine."

Kat jumped. The voice was cold, harsh, somehow familiar… Figures materialized around them, and the Rangers froze in place. Ranks of mechanical soldiers leveled weapons at them. A dark form stepped forward.

"So predictable, even after all this time." The creature was tall and hulking, with black and blistered skin, sharp yellow teeth, and eyes that glowed red, like burning embers. He looked at each of them in turn, his gaze seemingly sharpening as it landed on Kat, who refused to shrink back. She notched her chin up, and the creature grinned. 

"I see you don't recognize me, Katherine. I am hurt, after all the time we spent together, all the caresses I gave you." He chuckled at the look of disgusted horror that crossed her face and spread his arms wide. "Don't you know me, little kitten?" 

She stared at him. "It's not possible." Her voice was hoarse, a raspy whisper. "It can't be. You were destroyed, when Zordon died!"

Goldar laughed again. "I see you do know me. Is it possible you missed me, in some dark corner of your soul?"

Wes interposed himself neatly between Kat and Goldar. "Who is this clown, Kat?"

With no more effort than if he were flicking off a fly, Goldar cuffed him aside. Wes hit the side of the ship like a rag doll, sliding to the ground limply. Kat stepped forward involuntarily, eyes blazing, fists clenched. Goldar chuckled. "Ah, well, we will have to catch up later, my dear. I do so look forward to many cozy hours together. But first I must meet your friends."

His gaze scraped over the two youngest Rangers, clearly out of their depth and obviously terrified. Goldar grinned widely at them. "Mmm." He smacked his lips. "Fresh meat." 

From there his attention wandered to Cassie on the ground, in excruciating pain but putting up a defiant front. "Pretty…" the creature mused. He crossed to her and squatted in front of her, gently stroking a strand of her long hair between his fingers. "There is nothing quite so becoming as pain."

Carter shoved his way on front of her. "Back off, ugly," he hissed. 

Goldar got to his feet, his expression considering. "And that is the second time in as many moments I have been defied," he said, almost conversationally. He reached forward and grasped Carter's throat, lifting him. The Red Lightspeed Ranger struggled, clawing at Goldar's unrelenting grip.

"Stop!" Kat cried, running forward. 

Goldar batted her away without so much as looking at her. There was an audible crack as her ribs gave way; Kat hit the ground, winded. The younger Rangers ran forward but were held back by a phalanx of mechanical soldiers. Cassie screamed as Carter's eyes rolled back in his head and his tongue began to protrude. 

"Oh, God," Kat sobbed, breathing shallowly. "You're killing him!"

Goldar chuckled. "That, my kitten, was more or less my intent." He flexed his fist once, crushing Carter's throat, and let the body fall lifeless to the ground. Cassie was weeping openly. Goldar looked around benignly. "Would anyone else like to challenge me, or shall we move on?"

~*~

"How long has it been?" Tommy asked woodenly, his voice flat.

Rocky glanced at the chronometer. "About four hours since their last communication."

"Oh, my God." Tommy spoke quietly, bowing his head. "Rocky, what am I going to do? How do I – what do I tell the kids?"

Rocky put a sympathetic hand on the other man's shoulder. "Damned if I know, Tom."

Tommy rubbed his hands over his face. "Ah, Rocko, what if that's the last thing Kat believed of us, that I loved Kim more than I loved her? What if I never get to tell her the truth?"

Rocky shook his head, and said the only thing he could think of. "I'm sure she knows, Tom. And you'll tell her when she gets back."

He could almost see the steel slipping back into Tommy's spine. "Yes." 

Alyssa spoke suddenly; both men jumped. "Commander!"

Billy traced a finger over the monitor in front of him. "It's the Interceptor, Tom. She's entering our atmosphere." Rocky barely had time to breathe out a prayer of thanks before Billy spoke again, his voice sharper. "But her trajectory's all wrong and – holy shit, she's not coming out of hyperspeed! She's on a course to –" Billy cursed and hit the alert; klaxons sounded throughout the ACC.

The need for him to finish his sentence was eliminated when the Interceptor rammed into the polar ice cap on the eastern edge of the Antarctic and exploded. 

The shock wave hit scant seconds later.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

Many thanks to ScarletDeva for helping me thrash this out. And, as always, to Rach, who is my personal angel. Next to Binky.

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 7

Heedless of the sterile field they'd been so careful to set up, Ba'altesch threw aside chunks of wall and sparking machinery. "MIRI!" The acrid smoke that filled the lab was blinding, choking; Ba'altesch covered his mouth with his arm so he could breathe through the fabric of his uniform. He groped through the smoke and found a length of PVC piping and knew he must be close. "Miri! Can you hear me? Where are you?"

"She's over here," said a deep voice, slightly raspy. "She's unconscious, but she's got a good pulse."

Ba'altesch checked in his search, and then made his way toward the voice. A figure loomed through the smoke, carrying Miri in his arms. He knew what he would find, and yet… seeing him standing there was somehow unnerving. 

"Jason Scott." The big blue alien stared at him, coughing. "We must leave this place." Ba'altesch wiped at his irritated eyes and reached for his unconscious friend.

Jason hefted her close. "It's okay, I got her. You lead us out."

"Very well." Ba'altesch picked up a length of fused cording that lay at his feet and handed Jason one end, tying the other securely about his arm. "So we don't become separated in the smoke." Jason nodded.

Figuring their best chance was to find a wall, any wall, and grope along to the door, Ba'altesch picked a random direction and walked slowly, hands in front of him. A solid wall loomed in front of him, and he barked his shin on what he realized was the sofa, which gave him his bearings. "This way," he said hoarsely.

The door refused to respond to the palm panel, which was irritating if unsurprising. Ba'altesch sighed.

"Can we pry it open?" Jason asked.

"No need." So saying, Ba'altesch grasped the metal doorframe and pulled, the tendons in his shoulders straining. The frame buckled, revealing the edge of the door. Ba'altesch took a breath, rolled his shoulders to loosen them, and curled his fingers around the edge of the door. He braced his leg against the opposite side of the jamb and pulled.

Metal squealed as it began to give way; Ba'altesch gritted his teeth and increased pressure. The door opened an inch… another. The huge blue alien threw back his head and began to growl. Cords of ropy muscle stood out on his neck. The fabric of his uniform gave way across his chest and shoulders. Sweat dotted his forehead.

"You'd – better – stand back," he gritted to Jason, who obligingly stood aside. With a roar and a mighty heave Ba'altesch tore the heavy metal door free from its moorings and flung it behind him. "After you," he said to the other man, who regarded him for a moment before carrying Miri past him.

~*~

The canteen was on fire. Taylor got up off the floor where she'd been thrown and crawled over to Trini, pulling the table they'd shared off of the older woman. "You okay?"

Trini nodded, wincing. "Yeah. What happened?"

"No idea." Taylor squinted around. The canteen hadn't been very busy, but there were still plenty of injured. Her eyes widened as she saw that the catwalk that served as balcony seating had come down. The fire was being dealt with, but black, greasy smoke was rolling out of the kitchen area. "We need air in here, though. One sec." 

She got up and palmed the door control; the door shorted out and began to open and shut rhythmically, blue sparks showering down. Taylor cursed succinctly and looked around for a chair, which she jammed into the opening. The door banged against the chair, bending it into a jumble of metal framing. 

"Oh, that's no good," she muttered. The battered chair skittered away into the hall, and the door resumed its rhythm. Beside her, Trini took the door's measure, counting under her breath. "What are you going to do?" Taylor asked.

In answer Trini flung herself into a graceful helicopter kick, nailing the palm pad hard enough to break it apart. The door slowed, shuddered, and stayed open. Trini gave the other Yellow Ranger a tight grin as they stepped aside to allow medical personnel into the room. 

"Come on, let's go find out what's happening."

~*~

The shiny yellow comm on Kailey's wrist crackled to life. "Kailey? Honey, are you there?"

She wiped away the trickle of blood that trailed down the side of her face. "Yeah, Mom, I'm all right. A little banged around, but okay. What happened? Are you all right?"

"We're not sure yet, honey. Is Scott with you?"

Kailey glanced over at the blond Black div. Ranger, who was wrapping a piece of his uniform around a gash on his leg. "Yes, he's here." Scott mouthed something at her and shook his head, pointing at his injury, and Kailey nodded. "He's fine. Have you talked to Uncle Bill or anyone?"

She could hear her mother's smile. "Wanted to talk to you first. Where are you?"

"In the arboretum. There's a huge crack in the outer wall, though, so we are going to get out of here as soon as we can, because it's getting really cold." Kailey rubbed her reddening nose and shivered.

"Okay. SC Earhardt-Myers tells me that you should head for the docking bay for evacuation. Be careful, okay?"

"You too, Mom."

Kailey thumbed off her comm and looked at Scott. Amazing how well she'd come to know him, given the length of time since they'd met. "We're not going to the docking bay, are we?"

He struggled to his feet. "I'm not." Scott gazed down at her, pulling a piece of mulch from her hair. "If my dad was okay I'd have heard from him by now. I'm going to go find him."

She looked at him, then slid her shoulder under his arm on the side with the injured leg. "Make that 'we'."

  
~*~

"Ow! Jesus, Maya, take it easy!"

"Shut up, you big baby. They're definitely broken, by the way, so you should be thanking me."

Eric growled at her. "For what, dragging me around, ripping up my shirt, calling my wife and scaring her by telling her I've hurt myself, or stabbing your damn pointy fingers into my side?"

"So very grateful. You want to go back into what's left of the ops room and freeze your ass off, be my guest. I'll stay here in the hall where it's reasonably warm." Maya cast a glance over her shoulder as Taylor and Trini hurried toward them. "Huh. From the look on her face, you'd better be the scared one."

Taylor indeed looked as though she was ready to flay something; Eric winced as the tirade began. "Who the hell are you, Superman? You think you can hold up an entire load-bearing wall by yourself? Dammit, Myers, if I'm gonna be a widow it'll be on MY terms, thank you very much!" She turned to Maya, her tone suddenly perfectly reasonable. "I grabbed some tape off a medic we passed. Are they broken?"

Maya gestured at the huge purpling bruise on Eric's side. "I'm pretty sure, yeah."

Taylor began tearing off strips of first-aid tape with her teeth and handing them to Trini. "Hah. Serves him right."

Eric flinched indignantly as his wife began taping his side. "Hey!"

She glared at him. "Knock it off, whiner. It's not every day you get three women handling your naked torso."

His lips tightened. "And you'd think from the description I'd be enjoying it more than I am."

Trini interrupted them. "Has anyone heard from communications?"

Eric frowned. "Nope. This side of the ACC took the brunt of the shock wave from the explosion; that's what brought that wall down. Communications is on the other side of it. I'm just hoping nobody's under there."

Taylor finished her ministrations with a none-too-gentle pat that got another yelp from her husband. "Thank God you're not," she muttered under her breath, but he heard and dragged her against his good side with one strong arm, resting his forehead against hers, murmuring too low for the others to hear.

~*~

Cold… so cold…

Billy opened one eye and groaned at the pain that simple action caused. He rolled over slowly, levering himself up on his elbow. Where…?

It came to him, suddenly, where he was, and his eyes flew open. The explosion, the shock wave that followed… the huge crack that traced across the wall and ceiling as they lay on the floor dazed. Tommy… he'd got up and run to a metal table, shoving it with one foot toward them… he'd shouted for them to get down, and then… and then… oh, God. Rocky had grabbed Alyssa and thrown her under the table, and the wall…

Billy looked around. Rocky was next to him, eyes fluttering. Alyssa lay half under him, blood seeping from what looked like a superficial cut on her head. Tommy…

Where Tommy had been was just rubble.

Billy shivered and shook Rocky awake, scrambling out from under the table, which was itself half-buried. They had to get out of there, he realized, squinting at the open sky. Unless – oh, he had to be brain-dead. Billy would have smacked himself in the forehead but his hands were too busy locating and activating his atmosphere chip in his wrist comm. It wasn't instantly warm, but at least he couldn't feel the Antarctic breezes anymore, and it'd heat up soon. He bent and activated Rocky's and Alyssa's chips, the former still too groggy to move and the latter still unconscious.

"Tommy?" 

He didn't know why he said it. The odds of getting a response were so close to nil he couldn't measure them without a computer. And yet, if there were a chance – even one – he would take it.

Billy clambered over debris to about where he thought he'd last seen Tommy and began to dig.

~*~

Scott stared in mounting horror at the bulging door to the communications room. "The whole outer wall?" he asked, his voice a little shaky.

Standing beside him in a brand new uniform and slightly bulky about the waist, Eric nodded. "You can't get in that way. We'll have to 'port you in. Get your atmosphere going first, so you don't freeze."

Scott nodded and busied himself with his comm while Eric contacted emergency operations. Kailey moved away from her mother and touched his arm. "I'm going too."

"No – " began Trini involuntarily, then grimaced at the look her daughter sent her. "Sorry. I guess it's time for me to stop trying to protect you."

Eric looked from one of them to the other. "We've got juice enough in the backup 'porter for a short site-to-site burst, but only two people at a time, max, until we get the other generator up."

Kailey smiled at her briefly, then took her place beside Scott. "Ready."

As the teleport beam dissipated, Kailey bit back a gasp. The communications room was in ruins. Hastily she climbed lightly over the wreckage toward her uncle, who glanced up at her, his face sweat-streaked. Rocky and Alyssa were digging furiously in the rubble.

Scott blanched as he joined her. "Dad?"

"We just heard him," Billy bit out. "Come on."

Working like maniacs, the five pulled aside chunks of wall and ceiling, guided by faint groans. It was Alyssa who uncovered the problem. Tommy was trapped in a rickety teepee of steel I-bars under an immense hunk of ceiling, his left thigh neatly skewered by a rebar. It was eminently clear that the whole thing was as precarious as a house of deadly cards. What was not clear was whether Tommy would be able to move himself. Further, the huge piece of debris on top of the pyramid would surely fall in and crush him if it were jostled even a little.

Lastly, Tommy's wrist unit had been destroyed. Which meant two crucial things: one, he was at the mercy of the elements, meaning time was of the essence. And two, no comm, no teleport.

All of which led Kailey to an inescapable conclusion: somebody had to go in after him. Now. She crouched and examined the opening.

"What are you doing?" This was Uncle Bill, all but grabbing her by the scruff of the neck.

"I'm presuming you don't want your friend to die in there," she said reasonably. "So I am going in after him. Commander Myers says there's enough juice in the backup teleporter for two at a time, if the distance is short."

Scott stared at her, his bright blue eyes wide. Billy stared at her. Rocky stared at her. Alyssa stared at her.

"What?" Kailey shrugged. "I'm the smallest, therefore the best choice. We could debate it, but it's getting colder."

Billy stepped back. "Just don't give your mother a reason to kill me, honey."

The fit was tight, and motion was curtailed, but Kailey managed to wriggle her way in. By reaching her fingers she could brush Tommy's foot. He moaned at the contact. Gritting her teeth, Kailey hauled herself over the debris as carefully as she could, scooting her small body as close to his as she could manage. He opened his eyes, which were glazed with pain.

"You – you're – "

"Shh. I'm getting you out of here. Just hang on, okay?"

"No," Tommy protested. "Let me…"

She snuggled as close as she could and reached around his head to turn her atmosphere off, then on again to envelop them both. "Let you what? I'm not going to let you die, if that's what you mean."

That got a faint smile, even as his eyes began to flutter closed again. "No… want to… 'pologize…"

In spite of the situation, Kailey had a grin on her face as she and Tommy 'ported out of the rubble. 

~*~

The door to the barren cell slid open abruptly and Wes fell through, assisted by the butt of a blaster. Kat scrambled across the stone floor, pulling his head into her lap.

He looked awful. Black eye, split lip, a cut at the hairline and another slicing along his jaw. His uniform was in tatters; his upper body was crisscrossed with bleeding cuts. Kat cursed softly and accepted the roll of uniform strips that Vevila handed her, which was all they had in lieu of bandages. Vevila carefully cut away the remains of Wes' uniform top and began to methodically ready it for Lewis, who was still being 'interrogated'. 

Cassie moaned and shifted slightly in the corner where she lay; Kat shot her a worried look. Her fever was rising, surely. Goldar had taken an evil delight in toying with the leg she had fractured, and Kat was increasingly sure it had gone septic. The long slice on Cassie's arm was angry red and puffy.

Wes jerked his head. Instinctively Kat winced; the place on her stomach where Goldar had removed a ribbon of flesh was severely tender. But if human contact offered Wes comfort, then a little pain was a small price to pay. She smoothed his hair back gently and leaned back against the cold wall. 

She'd figure out Goldar's plan soon, and then she'd find a way to stop him.

~*~

Someone was pounding on Miri's head. "I hear you knocking, but you can't come in," she mumbled under her breath.

A low chuckle filtered through the pain. Miri opened her eyes a fraction.

Jason Scott sat on the floor across from her, larger than life, his knees drawn up, his arms draped over them comfortably. He was smiling gently.

"Want the number of that truck?" he offered, his voice as gentle as his grin.

Miri sat up gingerly, grateful for the wall at her back. "Was I attacked by angry gorillas?"

"No, just a chunk of wall. This place – your friend called it the ACC?" She nodded and regretted it instantly. Jason frowned. "Take it easy. Anyway, there was some sort of explosion outside, and we were caught in the shockwave. Had to be one hell of an explosion," he added, running his fingers through his dark hair. "Now, can you hold still for a sec?"

He reached toward her, and Miri flinched back. "What are you going to do?"

Jason gave her a steady look. "Help, if I can. Don't be afraid of me; I wouldn't hurt you."

She notched up her chin. "I'm not afraid." 

That got another chuckle. "Okay. Then hold still." His fingers gently brushed her temple.

A tingling warmth spread from where he touched her. Instantly the ache began to subside. Miri found herself able to focus. And then the exhaustion ebbed away, and she felt energized, better than she had for days. And Jason moved his hand away and smiled.

"Better?"

She stared at him. "Where the – how did you do that?"

He shrugged and stood in one fluid movement, reaching down to help her up. "I think your friend is coming back," was all he said.

Ba'altesch was slightly out of breath. There were wide streaks of dust across his massive chest, which looked even more massive without the top of his uniform to contain it. 

Miri raised her brows. "What happened to you?

The large blue alien flushed a darker blue, but grinned anyway. "I'm glad to see you're all right, Miri. You were unconscious for quite a while."

She contemplated his bare torso. "Evidently."

Ba'altesch turned to Jason. "I was able to clear a path through the debris in the stairwell, which we ought to be able to navigate with ease now that Miri is back on her feet. Once free of these lower levels I expect that we'll have no more difficulty contacting anyone."

That got Miri's attention. "We've been out of contact? What happened?"

Ba'altesch shrugged and led the way toward the stairwell. "We've been trying to find that out, but your comm is still in the lab and mine has been non-operational for some reason."

Miri frowned. "Sounds like there's too much beta interference for the intra-base communications grid to penetrate this deep within the substructure." She glanced at Jason. "You're right, that would have been one heck of an explosion. What are you grinning at?"

He chuckled. "You've got to be related to Billy, though he never mentioned a… sister? Cousin?"

Miri hesitated, then took the plunge. "Daughter."

Jason blinked. "I guess things took longer than he thought they would."

She touched his shoulder sympathetically. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." His eyes grew distant; then he turned to her. "Kim's gone, isn't she? And Zordon?"

For the second time she stared at him. "How can you possibly know that?"

Jason shrugged as they began to climb through the rubble in the stairwell. "I'm not sure. I think… I think I saw them go by. It's like remembering a dream, but… not." He grimaced. "I can't explain better than that."

Ba'altesch's comm went off suddenly. Billy's voice was frantic. "Ba'altesch! Where's Miri? You've both been offline and – "

The alien smiled. "She's with me, Admiral. We're all right. And – " His dark eyes distant again, Jason jerked as though he'd been burned and grasped Ba'altesch's arm. He shook his head and put a finger to his lips. Ba'altesch's eyebrows rose nearly off his forehead, but he complied. "And we're on our way to you now," he finished. "The lab was pretty well destroyed. What happened?"

Billy sighed. "I'd rather discuss it in person, Ba'altesch. Give Miri my love and be careful. I'll see you when you get here." 

Ba'altesch put his arm down and gave Jason a considering look, but it was Miri who spoke, her voice somber. "I don't understand. Why not let Ba'altesch tell them you're all right? Surely Dad would be grateful for some good news."

Jason looked at her, his dark gaze somehow unnerving. "I'm – not sure. I just have the feeling that something's coming – that it would be better if they didn't know about me right now."


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

Many thanks to Rach. Dagmar, this ending is for you. 

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 8

"Hey, Ba'altesch… hang on a minute." Miri stopped and looked at the door of the landing they'd just reached.

He turned a kindly face to his friend. "Are you tired, Miri? We can rest, if need be. You did take quite a blow to your head."

She shook the head in question. "No, I'm fine. No more rattling. But isn't this the level with the gymnasium and storage lockers?"

"Feeling a need to work out?" This was Jason, crossing his arms across his chest. 

Miri made a face at him. "Funny, aren't you? Listen, you two, I know I only had a cursory tour of the facility, but I seem to recall that this level had a western entrance stairway, which could conceivably be a lot less dangerous than this one." She nudged a chunk of debris for emphasis. "Might be worth a check anyhow."

Jason nodded. "After you." They picked their way to the gymnasium, a large, open facility. Jason looked around in something approaching wonder. "How big is this ACC, anyway?"

Miri shrugged. "I'm not positive, but it's got full living facilities for several hundred Rangers, not to mention weapons and vehicle storage. It's pretty big." Jason whistled, impressed.

The gym was deserted, though it was obvious that it hadn't been when the shockwave hit. Abandoned water bottles and exercise equipment, evidence of injury in the form of bandage wrappings and spots of blood here and there, discarded sports clothing and a lone sneaker stood in mute testimony to the thriving community that the ACC was used to housing. 

Miri rubbed her chin. "Evac must be well underway. We should probably get moving, but as long as we're here…" She hurried off in the direction of a storage closet and returned, moments later, with three small uniforms and her cheek full of something crunchy. "Here. You've been wearing that t-shirt for quite a while."

Jason eyed the uniform she held out to him dubiously. "That looks like it might fit a child, but…"

She swallowed and grinned. "They stretch. Trust me. If it'll fit Ba'altesch – " and she nodded after the departing blue alien, who was headed for the men's locker room, blue uniform clenched in his fist. "Oh, and here." She handed him a foil-wrapped granola bar. "I'm starving, and it's only been a day or so since I ate. You must be at least a little hungry."

Jason opened his mouth to reply, but a loud rumble from his midsection settled the question. He grinned and grabbed the granola bar and the scrap of red and followed Ba'altesch.

The ladies' locker room afforded wet wipes and an abandoned comb. Miri tossed out her scrubs, including the little green cap she'd had over her head and made grateful use of both. She returned to the gym floor reasonably clean, her honey-colored hair tied back in its usual braid, to find Ba'altesch and Jason already waiting for her. She eyed the red-clad man. "Very nice. Told you it would fit."

He grinned. "I should have known better than to doubt a Cranston." Jason looked down at himself. "Red, huh? It's been a while since I've worn this color. What made you pick red instead of gold or black?"

Miri snorted. "Are you kidding? You're Jason Scott, the legendary first Red Ranger. Your story is known all over the galaxy, on the same scale as the once and future king." The look of horrified dismay that crossed his handsome face was so comical she began to giggle. "Blame it on Uncle Tom. But red is definitely your color, buckaroo." They headed up the western stairs. "In fact if you want your old uniform it's housed in the library here."

Jason stopped and stared. "You're kidding, right?"

Ba'altesch beamed. "Indeed not. I made a point of viewing the display case in the library upon my arrival. Ranger history is something of a passion of mine. It was very exciting to see the original uniforms."

"What, they're all there?"

Miri nodded. "Yep. All the original five in the main showcase, right as you go in. Uncle Tom, Uncle Rocky, Aunt Kat and the rest of the second wave have their own case. The rest of the retired uniforms are in the museum on Eltar."

"Museum on – oh, Lord." Jason shook his head. 

They climbed in silence for a few minutes.

Then Jason said quietly, "Miri? Will you tell me about Kim, please?"

~*~

The conference room in the best repair was easily and efficiently turned into an emergency ops/comm center, where ACC command was attempting to make sense of what had happened.

Trini finished analyzing the data from the Interceptor immediately before the explosion and turned to the rest of the room, her expression shadowed. "No life signs aboard her when she entered the atmosphere."

Billy glanced up. "I hear a but."

Trini nodded. "But Carter was on board."

There was a moment of silence, broken by a pungent oath from Eric. Billy merely nodded, his expression stony. 

He spoke into his comm. "Okay, Cole, emergency relief is all yours. Deploy whatever you think is necessary. Areas in greatest need include Japan, the Pacific Islands, Hawaii, and California; they're still feeling aftershocks there. The Station should be entering Terran orbit in thirty-six hours, and you'll be able to increase relief efforts then. Also, Qetre, Eltar and Mirinoi are on standby. Got all that?"

"Got it covered, Admiral. Cole out."

Billy shoved his fingers into his hair. "My God," he said, his voice hollow. "And the death toll is still climbing."

The door slid open. "Then we just have to get this guy, whoever he is, and make him pay."

"Don't even tell me," Billy said exasperatedly, without looking up. "What'd you do, threaten the medic into pumping that leg full of novocaine?"  


"Pretty much," Tommy said, wincing as he made his way forward on crutches. He lowered himself into a chair gingerly with the help of his son and Kailey. 

"You know," Kailey said conversationally, "I didn't pull you out of there for you to act like an idiot."

Trini looked up sharply, but Tommy only chuckled and patted the younger woman on the shoulder. "I always act like an idiot if given the chance. Ask your mom." 

Trini gave the ghost of a smile. "Apology accepted."

Maya leaned forward, her gaze focused on her monitor. "Incoming transmission."

Eric joined her. "From?"

Maya frowned. "The moon." There was a collective intake of breath; Maya's fingers played over the computer console. "It's encoded, Admiral. For you and Commander Oliver, eyes only."

"Whose code?" Tommy snapped.

"It's…" Maya glanced up at him, her expression filled with surprise. "Commander Katherine Oliver's, sir."

Tommy hissed in a breath. "Everyone out." Scott protested, but was quelled by a look from his father. "It's eyes only, Scott. She had to have a reason. You know your mom."

They filed out slowly, Eric bringing up the rear. "This is a highly suspicious action for the moon recon to take, given the explosion and Grayson's death. On the record, I don't like it, Admiral," he bit out.

Billy raised his brows. "Noted." The door slid shut behind them, he activated the decryption code, and the holoscreen flickered to life. Billy shot to his feet with an oath; Tommy gripped the arms of his chair, turning his knuckles white.

"Hello, Thomas, my old friend. You got my message, I think?"

~*~

Once in the hall, Kailey threaded her fingers into Scott's and pulled him a short distance away. "What?" he said, a trifle impatiently. "I want to – " 

"You want to know what that message is about," she cut him off. "I took honors in communication tech. Find me a terminal."

Scott grinned and tugged on a strand of her hair. "I think you're in the wrong div. Let's see if the library terminals are working." 

The others were too busy discussing possible strategies to notice the two younger Rangers slip away. They found a terminal that had more or less survived damage from the blast; Kailey worked some magic on the console, and the encrypted communiqué unscrambled before their horrified eyes.

~*~

The group in the hall jumped visibly as the door shot open and Billy strode out, followed at a short distance by Tommy. Trini recognized the lines of strain on Tommy's face and knew the news had been bad. 

Tommy spoke shortly. "Myers, you've got command until further notice. Put the ACC on high alert in exactly six hours and put together an offensive for attacking the lunar base in the meantime, but there is to be no action until the six hours are up, you got that?"

"What the – ?" Eric expostulated. "Where are you going to b – oh, no. There's no way in hell that I'm going to let you two go haring off to the moon alone! Let me put together an offensive now, and we can – "

"I don't have time for this," Tommy growled. "Either you follow orders or I find someone who will."

Eric stood stock still, his dark eyes blazing. "This is suicide, Commander, Admiral. Sheer lunacy. I won't allow it."

And then Billy did something Trini had never seen him do before: he pulled rank. 

He turned to Eric, his blue gaze icy, pinning the younger man in place. "You're out of line, Commander. Need I remind you who is the superior officer here?"

Eric stared for a moment, mouth open. Trini knew how he felt.

Billy nodded. "You have your orders, Commander. I expect you to carry them out to the letter." His gaze softened as he looked at Trini. "Tell Miri – "

She shook her head. "You tell her, when you get back."

Billy's lips twisted in a wry smile; he nodded. He slipped his shoulder under Tommy's arm. "Come on, Tom. There's not much time."

In the library, a computer terminal went on automatic standby, but the ones who had been using it were no longer there to see.

~*~

"I feel like I've died and hell is a never-ending stairway," said Miri, panting slightly. 

Jason chuckled. Ba'altesch, who was ahead of them, called back buoyantly, "Level one!"

"Oh, are you serious?" Miri took the last few steps two at a time and clapped her hands as she read the sign on the stairwell door. "Hallelujah! My two absolutely favorite words in the language: level one!" She burst through the door, Ba'altesch hard on her heels. "Dad! Dad?"

The spacious common area was deserted, barring a clump of people outside one of the conference rooms. Miri ran forward and grabbed her aunt around the midsection; Trini turned and hugged her, hard, crying a little.

"Miri! Sweetheart! Thank goodness…" Trini's voice died away completely as she caught sight of a red-clad figure walking slowly toward them. Color drained from her usually serene countenance. 

"Jason…?" she whispered, her voice thick. 

Beside her, Rocky muttered what Miri assumed was a quiet prayer, though the words were in Spanish. Taylor looked at them in confusion, and Miri could tell the exact second she figured out who Jason was: her jaw dropped, her blue eyes grew round. Eric made the same realization at the same time, sliding an arm around his wife. Maya was talking quietly to Ba'altesch, but from the way she stared at Jason, it was pretty clear the blue-skinned man had explained who he was.

Jason offered an embarrassed smile. "Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late."

Trini was the first to recover from her paralysis, flying at Jason, crying incoherently. Rocky grinned hugely and embraced them both, and for a long time nothing was said. 

And then explanations and expostulations tumbled over each other in chaotic abandon as everyone began speaking at once; but eventually Miri got the whole story, and she frowned. "And you just let them go?" she challenged Eric, who frowned back.

"No choice. Doesn't mean I liked it." The Black div. Commander was clearly chafing at the thought.

"Tom left you in charge, huh?" Jason wanted to know. At Eric's nod, Jason grinned at him. "Then give yourself an assignment."

Eric stared at him, and then a slow smile spread over his face. "An excellent idea." The two dark-haired men clapped each other on the back, obviously highly pleased with one another. Miri looked at them, pretty sure where this was leading. Eric's next words confirmed her suspicions. "Rocky, the ACC's all yours until further notice." He ignored Rocky's expression, the taller man's brows climbing practically off his forehead. To Jason Eric added, "We'll need to find out what they plan to do if we're going to back them up."

Taylor touched her husband's arm and nodded shortly. "I'll go prep Nemesis. Meet me there when you're ready." To Miri, Eric looked like he wanted to protest, but Taylor's earlier self-assessment as the best pilot in the fleet was fairly accurate, next to Kat Oliver, and Eric knew it. To his credit, he simply watched her go.

She had a thought. "Hacking into an encrypted comm would be on Kailey's list of skills. Where is she?" 

Trini looked around, surprised. "She was right here a minute ago. Scott too."

Miri stared, her blue eyes wide. She knew where she'd be if she were in Kailey's yellow boots. "Just when did you lose track of her?"

"I – we left the comm room when the coded message came in, and…" A tiny frown appeared on Trini's smooth forehead. "This isn't like her."

"On the contrary, it's exactly like her," Miri said. "I could be wrong, though."

Trini raised her wrist. "Kailey? Honey, come in. Are you there?" She looked up at her niece, her expression troubled. "No answer."

Jason shook his head. "If she's your daughter, Tri, she's backing up a friend regardless of cost."

Trini looked at him doubtfully. "You know about –?"

"Yes. Miri told me. Kim's DNA. Doesn't mean she's not your daughter."

Trini shot him a grateful look while Miri was busy fiddling with her comm. "There!" She looked up at her aunt. "Emergency override code. She'll buzz me back if she's still in range."

Trini was mildly affronted. "Why don't I have that?"

Miri rolled her eyes. "You're her mom." Miri's comm buzzed, and she answered it. "What the heck are you doing, pipsqueak?"

"Trying to save the world, brainiac," came Kailey's tart response. "What are you doing, eating bonbons and painting your nails?"

Miri growled. "Yeah. I was thinking sort of a bright red, like your blood when I get my hands on you. Just as a point of curiosity, do you doofuses have a plan of any kind, or were you just winging it?"

There was a pause. "Well…"

"I thought so, Miss Go-Off-Half-Assed."

"That's supposed to be 'half-cocked'."

Miri snorted. "Not in your case. You hacked the comm while it was incoming, didn't you?"

"'Course." At this nonchalant reply, Kailey's mother groaned audibly and Eric muttered something incoherent. Miri wasn't sure, but it sounded like 'ought to be in Black div. where I can keep an eye on her'. 

Miri grinned. "Anyone notice?"

It was Kailey's turn to snort. "Please."

Miri chuckled. "Dumb question. OK. Send me the decryption info, willya? We need to see this little love note."

There was a pause, then Kailey said, "Done. Anything else?"

"Dad and Uncle Tom haven't the faintest idea you're there, do they?"

"No."

"Good." Miri glanced up at the others. "Keep it that way. We're coming after you. I'll be in touch as soon as we have something figured out, okay?"

There was a muffled consultation on the other end, and Kailey agreed.

"Okay." Miri's voice gentled. "You be careful, small one. Can I talk to our friend J. Scott Oliver?"

Scott's voice came through space. "What can I do for you?"

"Funny you should put it that way." Miri's voice hardened. "Take care of my little sis, J. Scott. Point of fact you bring her back to me with nary a hair out of place or I'll personally skin you alive, you got that?"

Scott's voice was clear and steady. "Miri, if I bring her back to you in anything other than pristine condition, I'll let you."

Miri's smile was soft. "You be careful too, Scott." She lowered her arm. "I like him. He's a good guy."

"Damn well better be," growled Trini.

"You got that decryption sequence?" Eric was already at the door to the comm room.

Miri nodded and followed him in. Jason was close on her heels; close enough to whisper, "J. Scott Oliver?"

"Uncle Tom's oldest," she whispered back. "Named for you." The grin that piece of information generated was bigger than the ACC, Miri reflected. And a darned handsome grin it was. 

She brought up the encoded transmission and input Kailey's information. The holographic scenario that unfolded before the collected group could not, in Miri's considered opinion, have been worse.

"Hello, Thomas, my old friend. You got my message, I think?"


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

As always, Rach rules. This is a little short, but I hope everyone enjoys it… 

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 9

It was Zedd's old throne room, that much Trini was sure of, but though signs of decay were still abundant, things had clearly changed. 

Before it had been stark and cold; now red draperies hung across doors and ceiling, giving the appearance of fetid luxury. Tall iron braziers burned hot, casting a sinister red glow over the scene. Flanking the blocklike metal throne were a pair of weapons racks, filled with implements of destruction. 

And on the throne itself sat a creature of grotesque proportions, like something out of a Giger nightmare. His skin was blackened and tight; shiny and stretched over him like the hide of an overfed python. His eyes burned deep in his skull; pinpoint embers that glowed with barely contained malevolence. His teeth were long and curved like those of a feral wildcat, wet and yellow as he curled his lips back in a horrific smile.

It was the smile that did it, that and the words that dripped from his mouth like putrid honey. "Hello, Thomas, my old friend. You got my message, I think?" The hatred in that simple question reached out from the holoscreen and curled invisible tendrils through the room, sending chills over Trini's spine. In all her recollection there had only been one being able to creep her out like that, only one who was driven by malice and rancor rather than the desire to rule.

Tommy's response, recorded by the computer, confirmed it.

"God damn you to hell, Goldar."

Goldar chuckled. "Been there. Thought I'd give you a taste of your own. How do you like it so far?"

Billy chimed in, his voice rough. "What do you want, Goldar?"

Goldar fingered his lower lip. "Now there's a question. I'm almost tempted to answer it." He grinned, almost puckishly. "And after all why not? It's not as though you can stop me." Goldar leaned forward, his voice a menacing whisper. "I'll tell you what I want, Ranger. I want you all to die."

There was a pause; then Billy's voice again. "There's more to it, though, isn't there? Otherwise you wouldn't be talking to us now, you'd just attack. So what do you want?"

Another pause; then Goldar nodded slowly. "Still the brain of the Rangers, I see. Remember what we called them, Thomas?" Tommy didn't answer. Goldar prompted him. "Come, you must remember. When you belonged to Rita? When you and I were friends?"

There was the sharp hiss of a gasp, but Trini didn't know whether it had been Tommy or Billy. "We were never friends." Tommy's voice was flat and unconvincing.

"Yes…" Goldar's voice became reminiscent. "You remember, Thomas. I know you do. We were brothers, united in a common goal, our bond as real and as strong as anything I had ever known. Sworn and ready to destroy the Rangers." Goldar suddenly frowned, and the fury in his eyes made Trini flinch. "But they stole you from me! Turned you against me! We were brothers, and suddenly you despised me. Left me. For them."

"Yes." Now Trini could hear anger in Tommy's voice. "I left it all behind, Goldar. I only regret I didn't kill you when I had the chance."

Goldar chuckled. "How many times I have felt the same." He pulled his red cloak around himself, shifting to drape one leg over the arm of the throne. "You ask me what it is I want. It's you, Thomas." He kicked his leg carelessly. "If I could have all that I wanted, I would ask for the lives of those who stole you from me. But the heart and sinew of the Rangers are out of even my reach. So I will settle for the mind. You, Thomas, and the one by your side, he who falsely calls you friend." Goldar gave a soft, menacing laugh. "A long time ago, Blue Ranger, I heard your duplicate call me his lord. I intend to hear these words from you, before you die."

"Not happening, apehead," Tommy spat out.

Goldar shrugged. "So be it." He nodded to someone out of view of the holoscreen, and Vile appeared, decades younger and living up to his name in spades. 

He was escorting a woman, tall and elegant, blond and cool as Grace Kelly in her prime. She was clad in scanty black leather, her buttery hair gleaming in the flickering light of the braziers. Katherine Oliver looked disdainfully through the holoscreen, and Trini felt cold clutch at her heart.

Goldar's voice purred in the background. "You might recall that I have some things you may want back…"

"That is not my wife." It sounded like Tommy was talking through clenched teeth.

Goldar chortled with glee. "Naturally not. Who could ever mistake this beautiful creature for that?" At his words another blonde, bound and ill-used, stumbled into view. Her face was swollen and bruised in places, her lip was split, her hair matted with blood and filth. Yet Kat's expression was defiant, even when Goldar forced her to her knees. "You must admit mine is a distinct improvement."

"You sonofa – !" They could hear the sound of a chair clattering to the ground, and then Billy's voice interrupted Tommy's tirade.

"We'll come, Goldar. Leave Kat out of this. She had nothing to do with Tommy's defection."

The creature raised a shoulder nonchalantly. "I have what I want from her, and the others. Come to me, Blue Ranger, and perhaps I will let her live a little longer, if you will die in her place." At his words Kat spat on him and was backhanded for her trouble.

"I'll see you in hell, Goldar!" The fury in Tommy's voice was all but palpable.

"Yes, Thomas. I expect you will." The screen flickered out.

The first, and for a time only, sound to break the silence that followed was a single half-swallowed sob from Miri, and the swish of the door as it closed after her. Trini made a move to follow her, but a gentle word from Jason stopped her.

"She'll be stronger for time alone, Tri." He stared at the closed door for a moment, his dark eyes enigmatic, and then he cleared his throat. "Well, obviously standing around doing nothing isn't an option. Ideas?"

Maya nodded. "The Exo. I'll get it together and meet you at Nemesis in thirty."

"Exo?" Jason looked at Trini interrogatively, but she shrugged, as much in the dark as he was.

Eric shot Maya a look. "It's just a prototype."

"Point being?"

The Black div. commander shrugged. "If you think it's ready for prime time, let's do it. We'll need weapons as well…"

The deep voice of Ba'altesch boomed from the back of the room. "I would be glad to lend my assistance in that area, if Maya could use me." She nodded and he followed her out of the room.

Eric leaned forward to watch as Jason replayed the scene without sound. "What do you think he meant by 'I've got what I want from her and the others'?"

Jason shook his head slowly, his gaze fixed on the screen. "No idea. Whatever it is, it's unlikely to be good." He found the part he was looking for and froze it. "There. Tri, what do you think he meant by wanting the heart and sinew of the Rangers but they're out of reach?"

Trini gave him a humorless grin. "I'd guess that's what he used to call you and Kim. He wanted revenge on the two of you, but she's dead and he thinks you are."

Jason nodded, rubbing his chin. "That's what I got too. We were all friends, but Bill and I were closer to Tom, and of course he fell for Kim. Twisted logic, but I can see how Goldar thinks we're more to blame for Tommy's defection than you or Zack."

Trini shrugged. "And that helps how?"

"Not sure yet, but it does." Jason looked up at her. "Where's the library?" 

~*~

"I'm not going to let him kill you, Bill." They hadn't spoken since leaving the atmosphere, but Tommy couldn't hold it in any longer. 

"I know."

"I'm not going to let the bastard kill anyone else," Tommy growled, more to himself than to his companion.

"He's not going to let Kat go easily, Tom." Billy was calm as he finished composing what Tommy knew was a communication to his daughter. "He won't let any of us go easily."

"You're not even going to try to get back, are you?"

Billy leveled a look at him. "Are you?" Tommy gave him a tight grin. "Thought not." The Admiral absently touched the explosive belt he'd hidden under his shirt. "Our best bet is to try and take him out with us. At least that way he'll leave the Earth alone."

~*~

Kat heard footsteps approaching the cell she shared with Cassie and Wes. Not Goldar, she mused; his step was heavier. Vile's too. No gear sounds, so not a robot…

Kat's double, the one from the throne room, came around the ill-lit corner. Kat leaned one shoulder against the stone wall and glared at the woman through the iron bars that separated them. 

"Hello, sister."

True to her name, Kat hissed.

The double laughed. "Quaint. I came to see how you are faring down here." She shivered elegantly. "Chilly, isn't it?"

Kat eyed her, every bit as disdainful as her double had been upstairs. "Perhaps if you had some clothes on…"

The other woman chuckled again. "Jealous, are we? After all I have no stretch marks, no cellulite…"

"No personality…"

The blonde double stretched her arms over her head. "I think Thomas and the children will prefer me to you, don't you agree? I mean you're so… used. I share your memories, you know, and it certainly seems as though his ardor has waned since you became old and unattractive. I think I shall enjoy his attentions before Goldar destroys him."

Kat shrugged and turned her back. "Whatever. If you have my memories then you know I've no interest in him any longer. Not after what Billy and I have shared."

"What Billy and you – " The double looked confused. "I have no memory of this. You lie."

Kat snorted. "Check your personality bank, what there is of it. I don't lie."

The double did some sort of internal consultation. "Then to what do you refer?"

Kat cast an uneasy glance at her slumbering companions. "Forget I said anything."

"No! I insist on knowing." The blonde took a step or two toward her.

Kat bit hard on her lip to keep from grinning. _Here, kitty, kitty…_ "It's not important."

The double came right up to the bars. "You will tell me this instant! I demand to know!"

Kat hesitated, then shrugged. "Well, all right." She cast another look over her shoulder, then sidled up to the bars. "You see – " Her hand shot out and grasped the other woman around the throat, her fingers digging into the pale flesh. "You will keep your paws off my family, kitten." Kat pushed the woman away, then jerked her forward, hard, smiling grimly at the dull thud of her double's head hitting the iron bars. "You got that? You don't touch them." Thud. "You don't think about them." Thud. "And you sure as shit don't ever hurt them." THUD!

The double wailed as she fell to the floor, a thin stream of blood bisecting her face. She scuttled backward, crabwise, her blue eyes wide. "You – you lied, and – This is not us! You cannot behave in such a manner – there is nothing in our memories to indicate – "

Kat bared her teeth at her. "You don't know me very well, 'sister'. I'll do whatever it takes to protect my family. Go near my husband or my children and you'll find out exactly how badly I can behave." 

The blonde woman whimpered and scampered away, leaving Kat with a feral smile on her battered face.

~*~

Taylor was clearly itching to get moving. "Everything stowed, Commander." She was given to addressing her husband formally whenever they served together, Trini had noticed. She supposed it had to do with her military background.

"Everything being what, exactly?" Eric was consulting their flight plan to the dark side of the moon.

Taylor ticked things off on her fingers. "Ba'altesch brought enough weaponry for the crew; Maya has something she called the 'Exo' back there, all in crates…"

Trini finished the list. "Miri took care of medical and Jason tossed in a duffel of some kind. That's about it."

Eric nodded. "Okay. Crew present and accounted for?"

"Yep."

The Black div. commander tapped his comm. "Rocky?"

Rocky's voice crackled to life, unusually sober. "All div. forces assembling now. We'll be ready to attack at go time." 

Eric nodded. He looked up at the two yellow Rangers. "Then I guess we better go save the world."


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Okay, I'll admit it – I own them all. Jason is in my basement, Eric is in my closet, and Billy serves me breakfast. Also, I own everyone reading this fic, so please send royalties before you go on with your lives.

Everything above this line is what I like to call Faux Truth. My thanks to Rach for the betaing.

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 10

The Earth shrank behind them, a peaceful ball of blue, no sign of the turmoil on her surface visible from the vantage point of space. 

Ba'altesch sighed as he looked out the aft porthole of Nemesis. The people spawned by the small blue sphere had given the galaxy so very much; would they now be snuffed out by the selfish evil of a single being?

By the sacred springs of Brel Qetre, they would not! 

The blood of the Altesch family ran warrior-hot through his veins at the very thought. A scientist he might be by training, but his family had served as guard to the royal clan of Qetre for generations, and Ba'altesch knew well how to fight for what was right.

He frowned mightily and thumped on the bulkhead again. 

"Miri?" Ba'altesch tried to keep his voice from booming. A message from the other ship had been received a short time ago, triangulated through the ACC, and he was fairly certain he had an idea of what the private communication from the Admiral had contained. Miri's silence from within the cramped medical cabin wherein she had sequestered herself confirmed his hypothesis. "Please, Miri. Talk to me."

Commander Kwan joined him, her face set in lines of concern. "Any response?"

Ba'altesch shrugged. "She will not answer, but I can hear her grief."

The commander's lips tightened. "I swear, that poor kid… Once we save Billy's butt I am gonna put it in a sling for this, on top of everything else she's had to deal with." Trini snorted. "Everything we've all had to deal with, I suppose I should say." She patted the large alien on the shoulder. "Maybe we should let her get it out, Ba'altesch. She'll talk when she's ready. I hope."

He nodded and followed her back into the common area of the ship, casting a reluctant look back toward the resolutely closed door of the med cabin.

Maya met him with a sympathetic look. "Was it what you thought?"

The big blue man shrugged. "Hard to say for sure, as she's secluded herself and will not talk to me. But I think it's a safe assumption that the Admiral sent a farewell message."

The pretty Mirinoian frowned. "We will do our best to insure that it was a useless gesture, you and I." Ba'altesch liked the way she said that, teaming them to face adversity together. He liked even better the way she took his large hand in her slim one and tugged him toward the cargo bay. "Let me show you the Exo."

~*~

Goodbye. Such a small word, only seven letters, but it could cause such a wealth of pain. 

Miri shook her head, ignoring the tears that coursed down her cheeks. At least Ba'altesch had stopped calling for her. His kindness would be more than she could bear just now.

It wasn't that she didn't understand what her father intended, or why. He wouldn't be William Cranston if he hadn't done precisely what he did. Saving the world had become a reflex to him, sacrifice almost expected. 

But, oh, she felt so alone.

There was another knock, but not the heavy thumps of Ba'altesch's oversized fist. It was a single, gentle rap, followed by a deep, compassionate voice.

"Let me in, Miri."

Jason's voice was like balm to her, though Miri couldn't imagine why. She palmed the privacy lock and turned her back, wrapping her arms around her slender middle. She closed her eyes as the door slid open, silently willing him to just talk to her, to let that voice wash over her until the pain went away.

She heard the door swish closed again, and warms hands slipped over her shoulders and down her arms, tugging her back to lean against the solid wall of a broad chest. The pad of a thumb wiped the wetness from her cheeks. Jason turned her around and held her close. 

"He said goodbye to you, didn't he?" That blessed baritone was like water in the desert, and Miri nodded as it soaked into her very skin. "He tried to do what was right, Miri. And he loves you too much to leave without a word."

"I know." Her own voice was raw from sobbing, barely a breath left to push it between her lips. "But he's all I have."

She could hear his smile as it crept into his voice. "No, he's not, I promise you that. You believe too much in what you can see and touch."

Miri opened her eyes, her lids feeling like sandpaper on grit. "I'm a scientist. That's all I know."

Jason sat on the examining bed and pulled her into his lap, wrapping his strong arms around her, managing to make her nearly six-foot frame feel small and delicate. "There's me," he said, and his voice was warm. "I'm here."

"Why?" was all she could manage. _Talk to me, _she thought desperately._ Just talk to me._

"Because you said you needed me."

"No, I – " But she had, Miri realized, and she remembered exactly when, remembered her frantic fist pounding into his chest, forcing his recalcitrant heart to beat. "You heard that?"

"Yes. The light was calling, but you said you needed me, so…"

She leaned into his strength for a while, her head tucked into the curve of his neck, her fingers curling into the smooth material of his uniform. "Where were you, all that time?" Her voice was stronger now.

Jason didn't pretend to misunderstand. "I don't know whether it even has a name. Shadowlands would do as well as anything. A place just outside the light." She would have pulled away then, but his arms tightened. "That makes it sound as though it was an awful place to be, but it wasn't. There was a lot of… clarity there. A lot of power. And I am still connected, in a way."

"The power to heal?"

Jason nodded. "Yes. Other things, too. It changes you, living in the shadowlands."

Miri sighed. "Why? You don't even know me."

His chest rumbled as he chuckled. "Wasn't much of a choice. A beautiful woman calling for me, or death? No contest." His fingers tangled in her hair as he brushed it away from her face. "I'm beginning to know you, Miri. And I want to know more, if that's okay, though this isn't the time to talk about that."

Warmth suffused her body, beginning at her toes and fingertips. She wasn't alone, Miri finally realized with certainty. Whatever happened, she wouldn't be alone.

~*~

Battered, bruised, and stripped to the waist, Billy glared defiantly at Goldar, who chuckled maliciously. The robotic soldiers who gripped his arms forced the Admiral to his knees; behind him, a dull thud let Billy know they'd done the same to Tommy, who growled in both pain and fury.

Goldar turned to go to the throne, whirling his cape about him theatrically. "You get credit for trying, Blue Ranger, I will say that, though I rather expected a noble, suicidal gesture." He sat and tapped his chin, a frown crossing his face. "Wait, there was another word I wanted. Noble… suicidal… oh yes." Goldar grinned. "Futile, that was the one."

"Damn you, Goldar, where is my wife?" Tommy burst out.

His crimson eyes opened wide in a parody of innocence as Goldar patted himself down, pretending to check his pockets. "Now where did I put – I know I had her here somewhere." He looked about himself, then shrugged. "I'm sure one of these will do as well." Behind the throne a Kat-clone appeared, a small bandage on her forehead. Behind her was another, this time wearing a uniform similar to the Rangers', excepting it was the dull gray color of lunar dust. Another followed, and another, until a full squad stood to attention behind Goldar, who chortled gleefully at the expressions on the faces of his captives.

"Oh… dear…" Goldar managed to stop laughing long enough to get another good look at Tommy, which set him off again. "Oh, Thomas…" He wiped his eyes with the corner of his cloak. "I remember a time when you would have appreciated the exquisite humor of this situation as much as I. Ah, well." He sniffed a few times, still giggling.

Tommy struggled forward. "I'll kill you for this, Goldar, I swear I will."

"You know, my old friend, I really do doubt that."

Billy tried to curb his temper. If there was any chance at all… "Where are they, Goldar? Kat and the others?"

The creature turned to him. "Dead by now, I expect. I wasn't terribly careful with them."

That rocked Tommy back on his heels, his hazel eyes wide and stark. "No. NO!" He let out a howl of agony as he collapsed to the cold metal floor.

"My," said Goldar, eyes sparking evilly. "And the fun's only just beginning."

~*~

Kailey suppressed a sigh of relief as she sighted their objective ahead: the terminus line. Beside her Scott was barely hanging onto his fury; the sounds of his father being taken captive had been almost more than the young Ranger could bear. Together they'd fought the instinct not to burst from the compartment where they'd concealed themselves; he'd held her hands so tightly they still tingled. 

A muscle ticked in Scott's jaw, his blue eyes glittered with repressed rage, but reason prevailed. He knew as well as she did that they had a far better chance of rescuing his parents and the Admiral with some backup. And that was close, and Kailey was grateful.

She glanced at her comm, checking the tiny homing signal. Another two kilometers to the rendezvous, under cover of the lunar darkness beyond the terminus line, which lay immediately to their left. In the distance, to their right, she could see activity at the ruins of Goldar's palace: gray-clad figures parading to and fro. He had an army, then. Kailey stored away the information to report to Commander Myers when she saw him.

Scott squeezed her fingers gently; she looked up at him. He offered her a tight smile. "Almost there."

She nodded, wanting to say something reassuring but knowing anything she could offer now would be a platitude, and those were worse than useless.

He just looked toward the palace, his jaw tightening.

~*~

Jason frowned. "Run that by me again?"

Taylor shrugged, clearly bewildered. "In the last half hour the number of life signs at the palace has doubled. Twice. The last communication from Interceptor was that there were two; now that number is nearly a hundred." She looked up at her husband. "I don't understand how, but… it's almost like he's making people, or something."

Eric paled, his dark eyes meeting Jason's. "You don't think…"

Jason scowled. "I sure as hell do."

Ba'altesch looked from one of them to the other. "Some clarification would be welcome."

Miri touched her friend on his massive shoulder. "Goldar said he'd taken what he needed from the other Rangers. And he duplicated Aunt Kat once, that much we saw."

The large blue alien stared at her. "Surely – you cannot mean – an army of Commander Olivers?"

"And Wes Collinses, and Cassie Chans…maybe by now Tom Oliver and the Admiral to boot," Taylor all but spat, fury in her blue eyes.

"And if he's duplicating them using Finster's old technology," Trini said slowly, horror lacing her words, "they'll know what the originals know. They'll know how we fight, what our weaknesses are. They'll know everything."

"Not everything." Jason folded his muscular arms across his chest.

They all turned to stare at him.

"That's why you wouldn't let us tell Dad you were alive," Miri breathed. "This was the something you thought was coming."

He nodded. "Looks that way."

Trini's dark eyes narrowed. "Just what was in that duffel you brought on board, Jase?"

He answered her with a question of his own. "What do we hate the most, Tri?"

She shrugged, bewildered. "Spiders? What?"

It was Maya who broke the short silence following Trini's confusion. "I think I see. Spiders would be correct, for you, Trini. For me it is the loss of my freedom. We hate most what we fear most. Is that what you mean, Jason?"

Jason nodded. "That's it. So we know what Goldar fears most. He told us himself." He tugged the duffel from under the seat where it was stowed; through the loosened opening they could see a flash of bright pink. "Just how much does this daughter of yours look like Kim, Trini?"

From the open cargo bay ramp came an exasperated voice. "Aw, c'mon. Can't you people find something else to talk about?"


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Admit it, you're as sick of reading these as I am of writing them, but here we go: I don't own anyone that belongs to someone else. 

A/N: Many thanks and much love to my favorite beta reader, Rach. You guys ought to be grateful too, she's the main reason this thing is readable.

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 11

"Kailey!"

Miri was fairly certain she'd never heard her aunt shriek before. At the moment, however, Trini was making up for lost time.

"How dare you – if you ever – are you all – I could just – " Clearly unable to choose between hugging the life out of her daughter and shaking her until her teeth rattled, Trini opted to do both. For her part Miri simply breathed a huge sigh of relief to see that the young Yellow div. Ranger seemed to be none the worse for her adventures. 

Behind Kailey hovered a silver-and-black clad shadow, obviously making the sane choice and staying out of mama bear Trini's way until the coast was clear. Miri caught Scott's eye and mouthed 'thank you', which surprised a small grin out of him as he nodded back.

The utter lack of sound from Jason's direction caught Miri's attention then, and she turned to look at him. Her heart squeezed in sympathy at the expression of mixed pleasure and pain, liberally sprinkled with shock, that traced the lines of his face. She glanced back at Kailey, who was approaching him with her hands out, bless her.

"I'm Kailey," she was saying, and he nodded, still stunned into silence. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Jason," he rasped. He held out his own arms. "Do you mind if I…?"

Kailey grinned. "Not at all, Uncle Jason," and she hugged him, hard. Miri could see tears glittering in his dark eyes; so did Kailey. "Sorry if it's a shock, the way I look."

He laughed and hastily wiped a hand over his face. "Not in a bad way, honest. It's just – I have a lot to adjust to." Kailey nodded; over her head Jason sought Miri's gaze, and she blushed.

Scott stepped forward, a hand out. "Jason Scott Oliver," he said. "Everyone calls me Scott. It's an honor, sir."

Jason was well and truly overwhelmed now, but he managed to shake the young man's hand before excusing himself. Miri hugged Kailey and gave Scott a brief kiss on the cheek, trying to give Jason some time to compose himself before hurrying after him.

~*~

The hazy gray fog that had enveloped Billy's head receded somewhat and he groaned. Someone said something like, "whassahappinme?" and he realized, after some concentrated thought, that it was himself. He pulled himself up on one elbow and squinted around the room… where the hell was he? He hadn't been on a bender like this since the day Cestria died.

Something was niggling at him, trying to poke a hole in the cotton fuzz that had somehow grown around his brain. There was something important he was supposed ro remember… wasn't there?

He swung his legs to the floor, belatedly noticing that he'd been curled up on a stone slab of some sort. Damp. Moldy. Yuck. He shivered and realized his uniform was in tatters, the shirt portion effectively gone. Interesting. Cold. Ow.

Billy looked down and touched his chest gingerly. Pieces of it appeared to be missing. He was almost sure he'd had skin and hair where now there were just strips of raw flesh, open and bleeding.

The pain began to filter through, and he groaned, thrusting bloody fingers into his hair. What the hell had happened?

The door to the cell swung open abruptly and a familiar red-clad figure tumbled in, much the worse for wear. Tommy looked up at him, hazel eyes wide with horror, and mumbled something like, "Oh, God, not again!"

Billy frowned. "Tom?"

His friend scrambled away from his ourstretched hand, licking his dry lips. "You're not him. I'm not falling for this again." Tommy looked about him wildly, his voice cracking as he shouted. "You hear me, Goldar? I'm not buying into this again!"

Goldar. The room seemed to shift like a kaleidoscope, and suddenly Billy remembered everything: the flesh his captor had torn from him, as he struggled and screamed; Goldar's leering face as Billy had refused, again, to call him lord; the specimen jars and the centrifuge that had extracted his DNA while he watched, bound and helpless; Billy after Billy being created before his horrified eyes.

"You see?" his tormentor had gloated. "I can make a thousand of you if I choose, all with the mind and memories of the brilliant original Blue Ranger. How will your pitiful race stop me then?"

"Against humanity your creations don't stand a chance," Billy had panted. "Without feeling, without intuition or inspiration, they're nothing. They're just worthless puppets, Goldar, and you know it."

Goldar had nodded. "It's true, I do know. They are not you." Then he'd grinned. "But Thomas doesn't know that."

Billy blinked, looking down at his friend on the floor. "Tom, it's me."

Tom gave a humorless laugh. "Not even original. Just shut up and die, will you, so I can think."

Billy blinked again, this time in surprise. "Come again?"

"I said," Tommy got up slowly and leaned against the opposite wall, "shut up and die already." He raised his voice. "C'mon, apehead, this one's already boring me. Let's get the show on the road."

Billy sat back and folded his legs up under him, tailor-style. "How many has he made you watch die?"

Tommy eyed him. "Now that's a novel approach. Aren't you going to try to convince me you're Billy?"

The Admiral shrugged. "I don't see the point, frankly. There's nothing I can say that would be effective. And I don't really feel like arguing with you. So how many?"

Tommy bared his teeth in what Billy imagined was supposed to be a wry grin. It failed. "You'd be number fifteen."

Billy's eyes widened fractionally. 

"What?" Tommy's voice was defensive.

"Obviously Goldar knows you as well as he says he does. Better than you ever told us."

Tommy growled. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Billy shrugged again. "Just that he knows where and how to hurt you. Torturing you wouldn't give him any satisfaction. Killing me, over and over, while making you watch… I can't even imagine." He studied his friend. "And Kat, too, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes." Tommy's voice broke on the single syllable. "Just two. I could tell it wasn't her, but even so… but with you I can't tell, it's been so long…"

Billy bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Tom. I'm… crap, I'm just sorry."

Tommy stared at him. "It's you, isn't it?"

Billy shrugged again. "Yeah, though maybe you'd be better off thinking it's not."

Tommy gave a weak snort. "Typical Cranston logic." At that Billy crossed to his friend and put an arm around him. After a moment, Tommy dropped his face into his hands, and all Billy heard was a shuddering sigh.

~*~

She ran Jason to ground in the med cabin. He sat with his back to the door, his face in his hands. Miri touched his hair gently. "This is getting to be a habit with us. Tell me how I can help."

He started to speak. "I…" He cleared his throat, and started again. "Not sure you can. There's such a lot to handle…"

Miri sighed and began to rub his back slowly. "Sometimes it's easier to talk to a stranger, like when your dad sends you a suicide note or you fall asleep for a quarter century. No preconceived ideas to trip over, no emotions invested to bang your shins on." 

He chuckled. "Tom would say there's nobody stranger than me." Jason looked around at her then. "I don't think of you as a stranger, Miri."

"No?" She looked at him, puzzled. "Why? We don't – "

He silenced her with a finger to her lips. "I'm doing my best to make sense of things, and the best I can do right now is to measure my life in hours. Given that scale, you're the person I know best." Jason paused and shrugged. "My life before… it's all distant and shadowy. I remember it, but… it's like the colors have all faded." He reached up to capture one of her hands in his. "To me, you're the first bright thing I know."

Miri backed away uncertainly, tugging her hand free. "Jason…"

He quirked a half-grin. "I know, this isn't the time, and you think of me as your patient." Jason got to his feet. "Well, I can be patient." That surprised a laugh out of her, and he chuckled in response. "Come on, then. We have monkey butt to kick."

~*~

Ba'altesch stretched his neck, tilting his head from side to side in an effort to loosen up the tension gathering there. He glanced over at Maya, satisfying himself for the hundredth time that his adjustments to the camouflage chip in her comm had succeeded in covering the Exo to an acceptable degree.

It had. He squinted, but all he could perceive was a minute disturbance of the air, a shimmer when Maya shifted position. Ba'altesch nodded to himself and checked his chronometer. His dark eyes widened fractionally. The Earth adage about time flying had its applications, though this was hardly fun…

As if to confirm his thoughts, Maya whispered to him. "They are inside. Be careful, Ba'altesch. I expect a tour of those sacred springs, as you promised."

He smiled, though he knew she could not see it, and then turned his attention to the clot of milling human figures outside the palace. They were centered about something, climbing over a large, half-constructed object that could be nothing other than Goldar's flagship in a fleet of destruction. 

A diversion, Commander Myers had requested; a diversion he would most assuredly get.

Ba'altesch set off at a run toward the palace, hearing the pounding of the Exo's feet beside him as Maya kept pace. Their target loomed closer; faces turned toward them, evidently hearing their approach, though it was clear that they had not yet been visually detected. Ba'altesch suppressed a shiver at the sight of the dozens of familiar faces that stared blankly in his direction. He'd known to expect it, but the effect was still disturbing.

And then a vision of what they must have gone through to provide Goldar with his army; people he'd known and respected and liked… the very thought tore through his blood, and fury suffused him. Ba'altesch snarled, hitting his comm to dispose of the camouflage, and swung his blaster up and forward with a roar. 

A phalanx of Wes Collinses fell back in confusion as the huge blue alien appeared in their midst, his blaster aflame. Beside him the Exo appeared. An exoskeleton of exceptional sleekness and power, it made Maya every bit the Qetren's equal in size and strength. 

Ba'altesch put his foot through the chest of a Wes in front of him, watching with cold interest as the startled clone seemed to dissolve into gory red goop. The blue-skinned man gave a feral grin. This would be easier than he'd thought. His blaster flamed again and again as he gave a warrior's yell.

The Exo launched into the air, somersaulting gracefully over the heads of the gray-clad Ranger clones, to land feet first with a sickening crunch on top of the half-built ship. Maya punched through the metal skin with one Exo-enhanced arm and began to tear the ship apart, sending the pieces flying into the crowd of clones with deadly effect. 

Ba'altesch's blaster jammed. Undeterred in the slightest, he planted it in the skull of the nearest Cassie-clone and simply began picking clones up, two by two, and hurling them wholesale at the rest, roaring with bloodlust at the sounds and smell of crunching bones and fizzing clone-flesh.

More clones and robotic soldiers poured from the palace toward them; Ba'altesch caught Maya's eye and grinned.

~*~

Cassie groaned again, her head tossing weakly back and forth. 

"She won't last much longer," Wes said sadly, gently pushing damp tendrils of dark hair away from his captain's fever-ravaged face.

Kat leaned her head against the stone wall wearily. "Maybe that makes her the lucky one."

He looked up at her quickly. "You don't mean that."

Kat closed her eyes. "No," she said, but she knew it was unconvincing.

Wes continued to stare at her, she could feel it. "They're coming for us, they must be. We'll get out of here."

"Yes."

He was silent, and Kat opened her eyes and looked at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Kat touched her lips with a finger, listening intently.

There it was: a sound in the corridor. Furtive, soft, but distinct. Kat bared her teeth and drew back into the shadows, shielding her companions with her body.

And then came the shimmer and hum of a camo chip disengaging, and a familiar red and white shape stepped forward. Kat blinked and swallowed, her lips forming words, her voice refusing to work.

Jason smiled reassuringly. "It's me, Kat. Hang in there, honey; we'll have you out of there in a second." Another figure appeared, clad, like Jason, in a costume Kat never thought to see again, this time a brilliant blue and white.

"J-jase? Miri?" It was a croak, but at least it came out this time. Kat swallowed and tried again. "You – you're – why are you dressed like that?"

He gave her a genuine grin this time. "Trust you to get right to the point. One sec." A third shape materialized, Eric this time, dressed in his usual black and silver. He went to work on the barred door with a tiny but efficient laser, cutting through the metal like a knife through butter. The door leaned forward and he caught it easily, letting Jason slip past, which he did just in time to catch Kat as she took a header into his arms. Miri edged past him and began to examine the other captives.

"It's okay, Kat. It's going to be okay," he crooned, and she clutched at him, believing. Her skin was warm where he touched her, the warmth spreading outward with a slight tingle. Kat blinked a few times, slowly realizing that the wound on her abdomen didn't throb, her head no longer ached. She wasn't tired, wasn't despairing… she sat up abruptly, her blue eyes round.

"How…?" Her half-formed question went unanswered as Jason moved toward Wes at a nod from Miri, who had taken Wes' place cradling Cassie's head. 

Jason touched the injured man gently on the shoulder. A soft glow spread over Wes' torso, and Kat stared in shock as the angry red welts and myriad cuts simply closed themselves up and vanished. His black eye faded, the long deep cut marring the side of his face healed. His eyes grew bright, his chin came up, and Kat could see the old Wes was back in spades. Miri smiled, her azure gaze resting on Jason's face. Moments later Cassie also stood before them, astonishment on her pretty face.

Jason stretched, the white diamond pattern in the middle of his crimson uniform stretching with him. Eric nodded at him, then turned to the three captives. "Taylor is waiting with Nemesis just beyond the terminus line; we'll join her there and rendezvous with the fleet in about half an hour."

"Uh, no," said Kat, shaking her head. "Not without my husband."

Jason grinned. "I heard you were pissed at him."

Kat grinned back. "I am."

~*~

"Diversion's underway," said Trini, her tone clipped. "Let's go."

Three transparent shimmers made their way carefully toward the throne room.

~*~

"Argh!" Goldar flung himself from his throne and began to pace, eyeing Vile malevolently. "Why have they not been stopped? Surely we more than outnumber them."

"We do, my lord, and are producing more soldiers as we speak, but these Rangers are an unknown quantity."

Goldar growled. "Explain."

Vile shrugged. "My experience, and I venture to say yours, is that Rangers are reluctant to kill. These Rangers at our door seem to have no such constraint, and you know well how fragile humanity can be, even when engineered." He spread his hands wide. "I have adjusted our production to account for this, but it may be some little time before our armies prevail. As you are aware it requires more time to produce the robotic soldiers."

"Is it some sort of misguided rescue attempt?"

Vile shook his head. "It appears not, my lord, as the familiar appearance of our Rangers seems to leave their attackers unaffected. In the past when we have resorted to duplication, the Rangers' affection for one another has hindered their performance. These Rangers are simply decimating our human squadrons."

Goldar threw himself into his throne again, fingering his lower lip. He turned his unsettling gaze on his captives, bound and kneeling at his feet. "I congratulate you, Blue Ranger. It seems you have produced Rangers without the sickening sentiment that has always been your downfall."

Billy made no reply, knowing Goldar was simply goading him. Tommy, however, bit.

"It's your downfall we're looking at, Goldar. You can kill us, but the Rangers will defeat you!"

In a flash the creature was before Tommy, his long fingers wrapped around his throat, lifting him from the ground. "You tempt me strangely, my dear Thomas," he hissed as Tommy choked. "I could tear out your throat now with but a single flex of my fingers, could turn you to ash with a thought."

"Do… it…" Tommy managed to snarl.

Billy swallowed the bile that rose in his own throat as Goldar's fingers began to tighten. "He can't," he said, outwardly calm. "He can't kill us, Tom, because then he'd have no audience, no one to witness his victory and be broken. No one to call him lord, except Vile. And that's what he wants." Billy lifted his chin. "That is what you want, isn't it, Goldar? Me to call you 'my lord'? Isn't that what you said?" He was amazed that his voice remained level while his mind screamed inside. _Drop him, damn you, drop him!_

Goldar opened his hand; Tommy hit the metallic floor like a rag doll, coughing. 

The malevolent creature considered Billy. "It's true, what you say. I am reluctant to kill you yet, not while there is so much more to be wrung from you." He smiled, his yellow teeth glinting in the light of the braziers. "I confess to some respect for you, Blue Ranger. You are truly the mind of the Rangers." 

Billy faced him squarely, refusing to look away. "We've defeated you every time, Goldar. This time will be no different."

Goldar snickered, resuming his seat on the throne. "Once that was true, I admit. But things have changed, have they not? Your kind may struggle, but I shall prevail. The team Zordon chose was young and strong. They might have been able to take me down, even now. But your Red leader and that Pink nuisance are dead, the focus and the spirit of the Rangers are old and tired now, and I have the mind here in my grasp. I have become master of evil, and in the end, none shall oppose me."

A voice rang out, and Billy went white to the roots. It couldn't be…

"You're the same thing you've always been, Goldar, a second rate villain with a bad costume and a worse script. You want the Rangers?" Five brightly colored figures materialized in the archway of the throne room. "You should be careful what you ask for."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

Thanks for the beta, Rach. Thanks for the characters, you two who know who you are. 

****

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter12

Impossible. Billy's lips formed the word, but no sound issued forth.

"Impossible!" screamed Vile, his voice cracking.

But clearly it was not impossible, for there they stood, five mighty Rangers, their costumes bright even in the fiery glow of the braziers. For a moment Billy was transported back in time to the heroics of his youth, when good and evil wore no shades of gray. 

For a moment only, however, and then on Goldar's shrill order his minions attacked, and the Rangers began to fight. The sense of detached déjà vu intensified as the Admiral watched the Blue and Pink Rangers break away from the group a little and fight together. Blue was clearly female, but that was the only unexpected note as he watched their bodies move in near-perfect sync, just as he and Kim had done so long ago, sending one robotic guard careening into another. Sparks flew as the guards struggled to disentangle from one another, eventually shorting out and sinking to the floor. 

Yellow's moves were executed with deceptively simple precision, her graceful limbs strong and fluid, dispatching a Wes-clone with perfect ease. Billy gave a small smile. Some things never changed.

Black fought differently from the old days; there were none of Zack's showy dance moves. Instead was leashed power, impossibly long kicks and jumps that seemed to hang in the air, destruction to a Cassie-clone delivered with clean accuracy. Indeed, Black reminded him of someone else entirely.

Red leapt to the air, kicking out in a distinctive move with both legs, decapitating a robotic soldier to his left, destroying a clone to his right. He landed and as quickly was airborne again, his body hurtling and spinning as his feet and fists found their targets with deadly results, leaving a squad of six clones fizzing and jerking on the floor. Billy blinked. Some things didn't change, but he couldn't quite get even his brain around this one.

Red landed and turned to face Goldar, who stared at him as though he could see through the helmet, burn it away with his gaze. "That the best you got?"

"I should ask you the same question," Goldar hissed. "A clever ruse, Ranger, but in the end a futile one. You are not they. Your sorry substitutes cannot defeat me."

Red's chin notched up. "No?" Black reached to his helmet, unfastening the sides and pulling his head free. Scott's blue gaze met his father's and held, as Red spoke. "The spirit of the Rangers, Goldar. The son of two of the greatest of Zordon's children. You haven't broken us."

Yellow tugged her helmet off and the years fell away; Billy was both unsurprised and totally amazed by the fall of black hair streaming free, the dark, intelligent eyes assessing the situation. Goldar growled softly. "The focus," said Red. "As sharp as ever. And focused on you."

"Old and tired my ass," muttered Trini, just loud enough for them to hear. Billy found himself grinning.

Blue reached for her helmet, dropping it to the ground, throwing her honey colored braid back over her shoulder. Goldar hissed, looking from daughter to father. "That's right," said Red, his tone deeply satisfied. 

"Clever indeed," the creature spat. "I admit to curiosity. How can you revive the dead?"

Pink pulled her helmet free, and Goldar went back a step. "The heart of the Rangers cannot die," Kailey said defiantly, her voice sounding familiarly fierce. Billy swallowed involuntarily, his throat suddenly thick with emotion.

"No," Goldar whispered. "You're dead." He swung his gaze to Red, who reached to his helmet. "Dead…"

Jason scowled at his old enemy. "Not any more," he said simply. 

Goldar took another step backwards, his composure obviously rocked by the sight of the man he regarded as his nemesis. It didn't take long for his bluster to reassert itself, but there was no doubting that he was shaken. "It doesn't matter - you soon will be again."

Jason moved deliberately into a fighting stance. "You want some revenge?" He extended a hand and crooked his fingers, abruptly beckoning the creature. A snarl curled his upper lip. "Bring it on."

The creature gave a roar; Goldar's fists erupted in white-hot flame. A ball of searing energy exploded toward the Red Ranger. In the corner of his eye Billy saw Tommy lurch forward, as if to stop what they were sure to witness…

But between the beats of Billy's heart, Jason blurred, and then – he wasn't where he had been, but a short distance away, faster than any eye could follow. The ball of fire roared across the room and beyond, off the balcony and into space.

Vile snarled and lunged forward, driving his fist into the face of an unprepared Kailey, who went sprawling. Trini in her turn went for Vile but was tackled from the side by the Admiral's greatest nightmare: a clone of himself. Her head contacted the floor hard; the Billy-clone pressed his advantage, curling his hands around her throat and thumping her head on the ground.

Across the room a familiar, black-clad blonde-haired clone leapt onto Scott's back with a shriek. The glint of steel glittered high in the air, clenched in the Kat-clone's fist, then plunged downward, driving deep into his shoulder. Tommy struggled mightily, his eyes glued to his son, who had gone to one knee, still grappling with the screaming harpy. 

Miri reached for Jason and they locked forearm to forearm, and then she swung herself forward. As she kicked out he stepped back and pivoted, carrying her through a powerful arc, around and behind, where her feet nailed the back of Vile's head, hard. He went sprawling forward, tumbling over Kailey's head. 

Kailey scrambled to her feet and dove after him, grasping the middle of his armor and pulling him over her to throw him against a brazier, which exploded and showered him with flame and embers. Vile howled and rolled frantically as he began to burn. "You bitch! I'll kill you!"

She rolled her shoulders and rubbed her jaw where he'd punched her, her brown eyes narrowing. "You can try."

A red figure erupted from the shadows near Scott; for a second Billy thought it was Jason, but he was wrong. Kat jerked her clone from her son's back and threw her against a wall. "I told you," she snarled, clasping her hands into a single fist, "leave –" she swung like a Major Leaguer, connecting mightily with the clone's chin, "my son –" a second swing, up and hard, driving the clone's head against the wall, "alone!" Kat lashed out with a long leg in a side kick, nailing the clone in her chest. The clone rebounded off the wall, gurgled, and sank to the floor, fizzing.

Trini kicked up and out, dislodging the Billy-clone and rolling away. He came after her, catching her by the ankle; she twisted around and caught him across the face with her other foot, and he lost his grip. Trini rolled easily to her feet. The Billy-clone smiled and wiped away a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth. "He always wanted you, you know," he said conversationally. "My progenitor. He's wanted you for years."

"You shut the hell up!" shouted the real Billy. "Kill him, Tri!"

She didn't lose her focus on her target, but Billy saw her grin before flipping into a handstand and locking her legs around the clone's neck, pulling him forward off balance. He tumbled over her to hit the floor, winded; her legs remained locked in place. 

The Billy-clone struggled wildly, his face purpling; Trini jerked her legs; there was an audible snap, and then the sound of fizzing.

She rolled away and went immediately into a ready position as Vile reached over his head, grasped the iron pole which supported the brazier, and rocketed to his feet, taking a swing at Kailey, who dodged. Trini jumped high in a flying roundhouse aimed at Vile's head, but it went slightly wide and he brought up the brazier suddenly, catching Trini's leg and throwing her to the ground. She landed awkwardly and rolled, clutching her thigh.

Kailey's eyes went wide and she flew at Vile, ignoring the swinging brazier, launching herself at him. Vile dropped the iron pole and staggered back under her attack, managing to get his hands between them, grasping her throat and throttling her. Kailey gripped Vile's windpipe and began to choke him as well.

Behind them, Scott looked frantically about, then tucked himself into a roll on his good shoulder, coming up with the brazier pole in his hands. He stepped once, pivoted, and with his teeth bared in a feral snarl, jammed the pole right through Vile's back. 

Billy could see the glistening end protruding from his stomach as Vile's grip slackened and he dropped Kailey, who went to her hands and knees, struggling for air. Scott staggered with Vile's sudden weight on the end of the iron pole; he dropped it and Vile went to the floor, jerking spasmodically, his eyes rolling back in his head.

At the same time Billy felt hands at his back, disposing of his shackles and helping him to his feet. He turned and managed to get his arms around his daughter, though they felt like lead weights. She pulled back and looked at him. Her lower lip trembled slightly before she got it under control.

"I'm sorry, baby girl," he rasped. 

The room rocked, sending them both staggering. The low, distinctive whine of an IRF attack ship, creamed overhead, followed by a series of explosions a short distance away. 

Next to them, Kat was helping Tommy to his feet. "Honestly, Oliver, the things you do to get out of an argument," she mock-scolded, the last part muffled against his shoulder as he pulled her close in a fierce hug.

"Kat…" was all Tommy said that was audible. Another blast rocked the palace.

A flash of red across the room caught their attention as Jason spun and planted a foot in Goldar's midsection, sending his adversary back. Goldar's hands were still alight with deadly white-hot flame; he swung at Jason, and again, which the Red Ranger easily sidestepped, almost as though he was anticipating his opponent's every move. 

Jason flipped backward to give himself some space, landing in a ready stance. Goldar growled and powered up his hands, hurling a ball of lethal energy at Jason, who slipped to one side in a blur of motion. Another explosion sent them all reeling; Jason staggered directly into the path of Goldar's projectile, and Billy gasped.

Not Miri, though. She darted forward a few steps and scooped up a round shield that had fallen from the weapons rack flanking the near side of the throne, and with a grunt flung it like a bizarre medieval Frisbee. It collided with the fireball, scattering the energy as Jason tucked and rolled free of the flying particles.

Around them, draperies ignited as the energy hit them, erupting suddenly into flame. Billy cursed volubly. "Time to go."

Tommy nodded, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Come on, Jase! Wrap that son of a bitch up!"

Jason spared him a grin, weaving to dodge a flaming fist again. "You got it." He held out one hand, palm open.

Without warning a nearby brazier flew into his grip as though magnetized. Tommy and Billy exchanged startled glances. Jason swung it around, scattering fire in a glowing arc and clubbing Goldar hard in the side. The creature fell against the wall with a grunt. 

Another blast knocked over the weapons racks, scattering their contents across the floor.

"It's the end, Goldar," cried Jason, pinning him in place with the brazier.

"Your end, Ranger," Goldar roared.

Miri screamed. "Jason – Vile!"

Goldar's minion was pulling himself up, his fingers scrabbling for a blaster that had skittered toward him. He aimed and pulled the trigger. An arc of deadly energy torpedoed toward Jason. 

Time seemed to slow down.

Like lightning Jason threw himself to the side, diving through the air in a flip that took him out of the path of danger. Goldar's expression became one of astonished indignation as the blast of energy hit him directly in the chest. 

With a snarl that became a groan, Goldar incinerated Vile's body, then slid slowly to the floor.

Kailey helped Scott out to the balcony, the only place not filled with flames, then ran back for her mother. Kat nodded, coughing. "Smart kid. Come on, stubborn, we'll be safer there than here." She shrugged Tommy's arm over her shoulder and hustled him to the balcony, dodging embers as the draperies and the clothing of the clones sputtered and burned. Miri and Billy went to follow suit.

Jason knelt by Goldar, his fingers glowing gently. "I can help you."

Goldar shifted, rearing back, grunting as the life slowly drained from him. "Don't touch me!" he snarled. "You seek to cleanse me, to purge me of my power… you shall not have the satisfaction."

Jason shook his head. "You're wrong, Goldar. I didn't want this. I wanted the killing to stop."

Goldar eyed him for a minute or two. "I shall return from the abyss, Ranger. Do not doubt it."

"I don't." Jason stood. "And when you do, I'll be here."

Abruptly, the creature began to smolder, smoke, and then flames erupted from the body, consuming him to ash in moments as they watched.

Another concussive shudder shook the palace, and a large stone beam fell into the throne room with a loud crash, sending Billy and Miri staggering back. Behind them a deep voice said "I've got you, love," and then they found themselves somehow propelled to the relative safety of the balcony, watching with the others as the throne room went up in smoke.

Billy raised an eyebrow at Jason. "Thanks, honey pie," he said dryly. 

Miri snorted; Jason grinned, but retained hold of Miri's hand. 

Billy eyed the pair. "Oh. Uh uh. No, no way. I know far too much about you as a teenager to let you near my daughter, Jase."

Miri gave him a look, then tugged her hand free. "I think we have more important things to consider right now anyway, like getting out of here."

As if in direct response to her assertion, the familiar shape of Nemesis rose from below the balcony. They could see Taylor, Eric, Cassie, Wes, a slightly mussed Maya and a half-naked Ba'altesch inside, waving. The Qetren activated his comm.

"Admiral, once you are safely on board, I wonder if we could discuss increasing the elasticity of the uniform polymers?"


	13. Chapter 13 Epilogue

Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

A/N: Many thanks to all of you who have read and enjoyed the story; this is the last of it. I hope I've answered all your questions and left nothing dangling. I've had a lot of fun challenging myself in the creation of this story, and this chapter is no exception. Please, let me know what you think. And as always, my eternal gratitude to Rach.

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Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 13

Six months later

Miri looked out of the window and smiled to herself. Qetre was a welcome change from the ongoing reconstruction of the ACC. It was an even bigger change from the technological familiarity of the Station, which was now in orbit around Earth. Miri fingered a vine that trailed past her window. Very different indeed. But she liked it.

Ba'altesch's home lay secluded high in the thick branches of an old-growth forest, dating back thousands of Qetren years. The trees were huge, as big around as Nemesis herself, in fact, and were thickly roped with vines. Their size and vitality was attributed by the Qetren people to the close proximity of the sacred springs of Bel Qetre.

Below the suspended village, things were bustling. Ba'altesch's family was an old and honored one, and he was determined to make this day stand out in the memories of his people, as well as his adopted family in the IRF. Miri could see his hulking form hurrying about, tiny as an ant from her elevated perspective in the bungalow she'd been given. 

She was busy herself, finally completing a task that had taken far too long in her considered opinion. Something else had always seemed to take precedence, until now, and she was determined that she would discharge this last responsibility. Today.

Miri read back her dictation from the holopad, a small frown furrowing her brow. Yes, that seemed to cover the resurrection episode, at least as far as she could remember, given her head injury and the state of the ACC at the time. 

"New file, heading Scott project, subheading follow-up and result interpretation." Miri waited a moment for her computer to comply, then began, her voice businesslike. "Upon regaining consciousness, subject Scott claimed quasi-awareness during his time in stasis. I have no explanation for this, but he was in possession of information that would have otherwise been impossible to come by. In addition, the subject demonstrated unusual abilities. He attributed this effect to an…" she hesitated, searching for the right words, "an expansion of consciousness attained during the period of stasis. Again, there is no way to prove or disprove his experience, but the fact of his newly acquired abilities is irrefutable. Over a period of six months, I have quantified these abilities as follows.

"Jason Scott has acquired the ability to accelerate the natural healing of damaged tissues. This was demonstrated numerous times on the Goldar mission. The length of time over which an injury had been sustained seems immaterial, as evidenced by his curing the degenerative spinal injury suffered by Auxiliary Commander Rocky DeSantos more than twenty years ago. This injury had been subsequently aggravated on mission Forever Red to the extent that DeSantos had relinquished his post as an active Ranger." Miri grinned. "Commander DeSantos has recently been reinstated to active field duty, at his request."

She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "In addition, subject Scott has the ability to move at speeds faster than can be tracked by the naked human eye. This ability is applicable in short bursts, and the subject suffers subsequent exhaustion in direct proportion to the effort put out.

"His physical strength seems to be enhanced as well, although my personal theory is that the subject combines his considerable body mass with an acquired telekinetic ability to give the appearance of increased strength. This seems to be an unconscious reflex, which would explain why this 'super-strength' appears only in relevant situations.

"He has on at least one occasion given evidence of a kind of precognitive awareness, but it is my belief that this ability is beyond his control and therefore not measurable.

"Lastly, as mentioned previously, Jason Scott has acquired telekinetic abilities beyond any thus far recorded in a human subject. This ability seems to be limited only by his will. Testing sessions were recorded and are included in this file."

She tapped her lower lip and swiveled in her chair, fidgeting. Now came the sticky bit. Jason was already being treated with far more reverence than made him comfortable among the ranks of the IRF. His reputation coupled with the resurrection was the stuff of legend, especially if Uncle Tom had his way. To fully reveal the changes his time in the exile of the Shadowlands had wrought would catapult him straight to myth, and make him utterly miserable. On the other hand, the information could prove invaluable someday, and ought to be on record somewhere.

A tricky line to walk. But Miri had a plan. A career-ender, possibly, but somehow that didn't seem to matter as much as Jason had begun to.

She smiled to herself, tucking a stray lock of hair behind one ear. He'd made it clear from the very beginning that he had feelings for her. How or why, she couldn't imagine. He'd seen something in her, he'd said. Certainly it wasn't impossible that his experiences in the Shadowlands had made him more perceptive. For her part she'd been willing to accept, even love Jason for her father's sake. But the truth was, over the last six months she'd come to love him for his own.

And today she was going to tell him so.

She took a deep breath and began to dictate. "I, Miranda Cestria Cranston, tender my resignation as director of the Scott project, as I can no longer maintain my professional distance. Jason Lee Scott is not a project; he is a man. A hero, possibly the pre-eminent hero of this generation and the last. He deserves every consideration the IRF and the Council of Allied Planets can give him." Miri swallowed, then continued. "I am aware that there are those on the Council that will disagree strongly with my decisions in this matter, but I am willing to accept any and all disciplinary measures meted out. What I have done is, I believe, for the best." She cleared her throat. "Therefore, the results of testing for the abilities subject Scott evinced while on the moon remain in a separate file. This file is permanently encoded to Jason Scott's personal DNA to ensure his privacy and security both now and in the future. The Scott project is officially closed." 

A deep voice from behind her startled Miri. "You didn't have to do that."

She turned, smiling her greeting. "I didn't hear you come in."

Jason frowned down at her. "Why do it, if you know the Council of whatever it is will be angry?"

"Council of Allied Planets." Miri hit 'send' and stood, stretching.

"Whatever. I told you I was okay with it."

"Sure you did. I even think you meant it, too, when you said it." She drew her palm gently over his cheek. "I saw your face when the Council reps came by the lab. They treated you like an experiment, not a person, even after all you've done. You're not quite real to them, I think." Miri stepped closer, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

Jason looked at her searchingly, seeming to find an answer in her smile. He leaned his forehead to hers with a sigh, slipping his hands around her waist to pull her close. His dark eyes flared; his voice was husky. "What was that about not maintaining your professional detachment?"

She inched her mouth closer, nuzzling his nose with her own. "Distance. Can't maintain my professional dist — mmm."

And that was all they said for a while.

~*~

In a secluded, warm pool, far from the celebratory bustle, Kailey leaned back luxuriously into her beloved's arms with a purr of satisfaction. Scott chuckled, tugging on a strand of her wet hair that had stuck to his chest.

"Comfy?"

Kailey grinned. "Mmmm, yes." She stretched her arms up and twined them around his neck, turning slightly for his kiss.

"Nervous about today?"

She thought about it. "No, not really." Kailey fiddled with the diamond ring he'd placed on her finger three short months ago. "Time goes by fast, doesn't it? And things change."

Scott held her away from him slightly, studying her pretty face. "You are nervous."

She shrugged. "Yeah."

"Listen." He folded her close again. "Things will be different from now on, sure. But nothing fundamental is going to change. We're just shifting living arrangements around a bit. We still love the people we love, and they love us. And I love you, Kail. I always will."

She smiled. "I love you, too."

~*~

Ba'altesch looked around him with satisfaction. Bel Qetre had never looked quite so lovely, in his opinion, and that was what he had planned. This was a commission like no other he'd ever been asked to execute, and he intended to carry it out to the very best of his ability.

Hanging overhead was a bower of the most beautiful, fragrant blossoms Qetre could produce, in shades of white and ivory, yellow and the merest touch of pink, looped with lush greenery and held in place with the sheerest of white draperies. The music of the springs, serenely bubbling, added a note of purity to the scene. No footwear was allowed here in this holy place, but Ba'altesch had planned to wear his family crest and traditional garb. Such an occasion was due the highest marks of respect and honor, and besides, he knew he looked well in it. And Maya would be arriving soon for the festivities.

He grinned, running his fingers through his wavy ebony hair. He'd grown it out some at her suggestion, instead of shaving it to the scalp as he was used to doing. She'd seemed to like it very much the last time he'd seen her… Ba'altesch's grin grew broader. Yes, Maya had seemed to appreciate the change.

And speaking of whom… he checked his chronometer. Maya's ship was due to land shortly. He had better make haste if he wanted to meet it.

~*~

"Does it bother you that this marriage is happening relatively quickly?" Jason asked, while Miri rummaged in her closet for the outfit she'd been given to wear.

Miri shook her head, laughing. "I'll tell you the truth, after I walked in on them half-dressed the first time I began to feel like it couldn't come too soon." She tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow, her robe draped over her free arm. "I guess after she saw him get hurt on the moon things became clear for them. Anyway, they haven't been able to keep their hands off each other." She chuckled as they stepped out into the late afternoon sun, heading for the middle of the village. "And it's pretty obvious they're good together, don't you think?"

Jason nodded. "Yes. I was just wondering what you thought about it all."

"I think it's wonderful to have something to celebrate, after all the pain and trouble Goldar caused."

He nodded again, his dark eyes thoughtful. 

Miri sighed. "Finding happiness in the wake of all that destruction… it's the final victory, isn't it?"

He digested that, changing the subject. "Which one is Trini and Kailey's bungalow?" 

She raised an arm and pointed through the network of hanging bridges that connected the village. "Up there. I should hurry; I was supposed to be there ten minutes ago. We're all supposed to dress together." He slanted her a look; she giggled. "I don't know. It's a wedding thing, I guess." Miri skipped ahead, tugging on his hand. "Come on, I'm late."

Jason shrugged and tugged her back to him, a mischievous expression on his face. "Tell 'em you got distracted."

She chuckled. "And it's true, too." He bent his head and kissed her, and it was several moments before Miri realized their feet weren't on the bridge anymore. She opened her eyes to see thick foliage floating by; or rather, they were the ones doing the floating, skimming through the air as he held her close. "Jase! What are you doing?"

"Taking the direct route." He looked at her, dark eyes alight as they touched down lightly in front of the bungalow. "I'll see you later. I'm supposed to meet the guys at Tommy's." He chuckled. "It's a wedding thing."

~*~

There he was. Even at this distance and among throngs of his own people, Maya could pick Ba'altesch out with ease. It must be more than affection, she reflected, smoothing her attire. Love, she thought. Nothing less would upset her equilibrium so.

A hand over her stomach calmed the butterflies there as she waited for him to see her… ah, now he'd caught sight of her. Maya kept her face serene, inwardly rejoicing at the stunned expression in those dark eyes. She had known there would be little time to change before the ceremony, and so had chosen to dress on the ship. 

Ba'altesch had sent her a traditional Qetren robe to wear. Apparently all of the visitors and celebrants had decide to adhere to this tradition. It would be a beautiful ceremony. 

She glanced down at herself. The word 'robe' was sort of an overstatement, in Maya's opinion. It had taken her and Taylor some time to figure out how it was supposed to go; Maya hoped they'd gotten it right. She grinned involuntarily, remembering Eric's expression when he caught sight of his wife in traditional Qetren garb. It was a good thing they had taken a private cabin.

Ba'altesch began to smile, a slow, appreciative smile that curled Maya's toes. Evidently her robe was on correctly. She smiled back, inspecting his outfit. His hair was longer now, silky and wavy, brushing the collar of the long, deep purple cape he wore, lavishly decorated in gold. It was hitched back on one side with golden ropes to reveal a ceremonial sword with a jeweled hilt. His pants were dark and snug, outlining the muscular tree trunks that were his legs. He wore no shirt. 

Maya chuckled to herself at that.

~*~

Kat held up the robe against her body. "Front, back… no sides. Are you sure this is right?"

Miri nodded, adjusting her belt straps carefully. "Yep. I checked with Ba'altesch. For such a modest guy, his people sure do underdress. The robe only covers front and back; the sides stay open. It's connected at the shoulders, and the neck part drapes down. And then these belt straps wind around down your body to your hips, sort of criss-crossing, to hold it together. No modesty for us." Taylor, from her seat across the room, laughed.

"But there's no way to wear underwear with this! I'm a middle-aged woman and a mother!" Kat wailed. "I can't go out in public without underwear!"

Taylor chuckled. "Trust me, you'll look great. Besides," she added, a devilish grin on her face, "wait till you see what Tom has to wear."

~*~

Tommy adjusted the purple cape over his shoulder and peered over Jason's shoulder to look in the mirror. No shirt, tight pants, cloak…"Anybody else feel like the chorus line of the Star Wars Ice Capades?"

Jason snorted. "Star Wars meets Chippendales, maybe. I'm just wondering how the Qetren manage to reproduce after wearing pants this tight."

"Did you see what the women are wearing?" This was Eric, who lounged against the wall by the door, arms folded across his bare torso. A chorus of 'noes' answered him, and he grinned wolfishly. "All I'm gonna say is, they manage."

The two seventeen-year-old boys, identical twins and both the image of Tommy, sprawled over the bed began whistling and making lewd remarks. Their father quelled them with a raised brow. "David, Will, knock it off. Your mother's going to be wearing whatever it is, so cool it."

"So where's the groom?" Rocky wanted to know, bouncing on his toes the way he used to do in high school.

Tommy nodded toward the bathroom. "Changing, in there. And when I say changing, I mean barfing; his color wasn't too good when I saw him a little while ago."

Jason grinned. "Think he's gonna back out?"

Tommy laughed. "Nah. Too stubborn. Besides, he really loves the girl."

"Who wouldn't?" put in Jason. "Whoop, time to get down there. Grab Scott and let's get on board this love train."

~*~

Mar'altesch straightened her robes, touching her headpiece gently to insure it was in place as the gentle music of the processional started. She smiled affectionately at her son as he escorted Maya to her seat, then took his own place beside her. 

Mar'altesch looked approvingly at Maya. For a human, the girl was quite presentable, and certainly knew how to handle herself with the quiet dignity so attractive in a mate and daughter. She wondered if Ba'altesch had asked Maya to be his lifemate yet. Probably not; he was a shy child, always had been. Still, Mar'altesch could see which way the wind was blowing, and she found the fragrance it carried to be sweet.

And here came the other humans who had become so important to her son. Really, they all looked quite well in Qetren native dress. Not all beings could carry off the rich purple that denoted the Altesch noble house. Ku'raltesch beamed. They made her quite proud, these humans. She had spent some little time with each of them, wishing to know those who completed her son's life away from home, and had found each worthy of respect and affection.

Ah, here came the lifemates. Bride and groom, Mar'altesch corrected herself. She had spent some time with Trini and Kat going over human wedding rituals so that she could conduct this ceremony, paying heed to the traditions of the sacred springs, and still honoring the couple's heritage. 

Kailey had her hair loose, in keeping with Qetren tradition, and wore a simple circlet of ivory flowers in her hair. Her feet were bare, as were the groom's; that Mar'altesch really had insisted on, for it was imperative to keep a part of oneself in contact with Bel Qetre.

For his part, Scott cut a fine figure in his Qetren finery. He made a handsome groom, a handsome addition to the house of Altesch. 

Perhaps when Ba'altesch and Maya said their vows... well. The music stopped, and it was time to begin.

"My dear ones," Mar'altesch said expansively, her voice warm and melodic. "We gather here as beloved family to unite these two in sacred vows. We surround them with our love and support as they embark on their life together."

She wrapped a ribbon around the clasped hands of the couple and began the recital of the vows. Scott smiled down at his bride; Kailey beamed at him, and Mar'altesch opened her arms wide, surveying the crowd benignly. This was a mating that would stand well over time. It rolled off the happy couple in waves: this was a pairing that was meant to last.

"And now, my dear ones, are there others who wish to renew their pledge, or who wish to make a new one? If so, let them come together and stand before us, before me and the sacred springs, and let their promises be blessed."

Eric and Taylor popped up like a child's toy on a spring; Mar'altesch chuckled warmly and blessed their commitment to one another. Tommy and a fiercely blushing Kat followed, the latter trying to walk so that her costume was less revealing. Mar'altesch mentally gave the elegant blonde points for trying, and when she had said the ritual blessing Mar'altesch took Tommy's cloak and slung it around his grateful wife.

Mar'altesch looked at her son expectantly, but he blushed a royal blue and she realized she was going to have to wait a bit longer for those grandchildren. Maya, however, sent her a serene smile, and that vastly eased Mar'altesch's disappointment.

The next part was as good as a play. Mar'altesch watched Jason hold out a hand to Miri, his eyes dark and full of love, and after a brief hesitation Miri took it and stood with him. The young Oliver twins cheered and were hushed by their mother. Kailey ran from her place and hugged Miri impulsively. Mar'altesch, who felt a bit like cheering herself, said that blessing with hearty pleasure.

And then Billy got to his feet, and the gathering fell silent as he walked slowly forward, stopping in front of Trini. Mar'altesch was fervently wishing for an Earth delicacy she'd recently become addicted to, and which her son claimed people ate by the bucket when in entertainment venues. Yes, some popcorn would be perfect, given the drama of the moment.

Billy got down on one knee in front of Trini, whose eyes were wide. He took her hand. "I thought, after Cestria, that I would never be whole again. You proved me wrong, a long time ago. You offered me friendship and understanding beyond anything I could ask for. I should have asked you years ago, Trini. I love you. Will you marry me?"

Trini looked at her daughter, who was clutching her new husband's arm and nodding so hard Mar'altesch though her head might come loose. Miri was chewing her fingers and nodding as well, silvery tears tracking down her face. 

Trini looked back at Billy.

Mar'altesch wanted to shake her. Instead she folded her hands and waited.

"Yes."

Pandemonium ensued. Mar'altesch let it go for a bit, wishing her position were less exalted so she could let out just one good whoop. Instead, she blessed the promise in her most carrying tones, inviting the best the sacred springs had to give on the company.

"And so, my dear ones, I conclude this ceremony. May we all love one another forever as heartily as we do now, and may we stand strong together against whatever may come to us. Blessings be on us all." She bowed her head, and there was silence, broken only by the serene bubbling of the springs behind her.

Until Rocky and the twins yelled in unison, "PARTY TIME!"


End file.
